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Highlights
- RT Diagnostics has been accused of failing to deliver test results as well as testing kits and not refunding customers either.
- Since mid-May, those travelling to the UK have ended up spending £500 million on PCR tests done by private firms.
In a latest scandal regarding Covid-19 testing, it was found that a testing firm, in which a former Labour minister and a Labour councillor have stakes, allegedly failed to deliver test results as well as testing kits and did not refund customers either, resulting in them turning to the NHS.
Customers who paid the company, named RT Diagnostics, for test kits had either not received them at all or received them late. Customers have also accused that they did not receive test results either. The alleged fraud resulted in many customers having to call NHS, which, in exceptional cases, give travellers testing facilities free of cost.
What is fraud?
Since mid-May, those travelling to the UK have ended up spending £500 million on PCR tests done by private firms. This has resulted in NHS having to bear costs because of the failure of private players. NHS is taxpayer-funded testing facility, which has also been outsourced to contractors.
RT Diagnostics and Real Time Diagnostics have Shahid Malik, former justice minister, and Faisal Shoukat, Calderdale councillor, as listed shareholders of the company. According to filings to Companies House, Malik owns a majority stake in the diagnostics company through a company called Premier UK Life Sciences, in which he is the only shareholder. This company was formed a month before RT Diagnostics began operations.
RT Diagnostics have, however, denied the accusations and also said that in incidents where kits were lost, the company fully refunded the customers and also absorbed all the costs. Like several other companies, RT Diagnostics had secured government’s approval for selling PCR tests to those entering the UK. The authorities agreed to give the provision to private players, drawing criticisms because of allegations against several companies of bad service.
Other truants
Several reviewers on Google, Twitter and TrustPilot, have levelled accusations that test kits reached either late or didn’t reach at all. Refunds were also not given. This incident comes close on the heels of the government announcing that as many as 80 private travel test providers that are enlisted on the government's website are liable to receive two-strike warnings because of quoting misleading prices, Sajid Javid, UK’s health secretary, had announced.
Another 57 would be removed from the list on 23 August as they either no longer provide the relevant test or do not exist. The government would also conduct spot checks on the diagnostics companies. A recent review conducted by the Department of Health on the companies listed on the government website found that the prices were lower on the Gov.UK website compared to what it costs actually.
