A longtime Queenstown Medical Centre (QMC) patient’s upset at what they’re charging for 4-in-1 flu tests, but the centre’s CEO’s adamant they’re not price-gouging.

Jane Gunn-Lewis, who’d been unwell, was surprised when told they charged $18 for a test kit when her sister, a nurse at a similar clinic in Nelson, said they only charged $8.

Refusing to pay, she climbed the steps to the pharmacy above QMC’s Isle St clinic to find they were charging only $10.99 per kit — she paid it to then discover she had RSV.

On a phone ring-around, she says she found other local and Wānaka medical clinics charged only $10 to $12 for the same kit — while Chemist Warehouse sells packs of five for $17, or $3.40 per test.

“I want to make it very clear I am in no way criticising the quality of medical care I have received [from QMC] over the years,” Gunn-Lewis says.

“It is the greedy price-gouging I find disappointing.”

Responding to her letter of complaint, a QMC manager told her they were purchasing the 4-in-1 tests at $17.40 per test, before freight costs, so there wasn’t a large cost margin.

The manager said unfortunately Health New Zealand doesn’t fund the tests so they needed to pass on the cost to patients.

QMC CEO Ashley Light says they don’t buy in bulk, unlike retail pharmacies, but they also don’t provide the service they do.

“By the time we’ve talked somebody through how to use the test and then those results are reviewed by the nurses, and further care, you’re actually getting a free service on top.

“I”m sorry she was disappointed at the cost, but I stand by our service.

“We don’t make huge margins, we don’t gouge, and we’re quite open about what we have to buy it for.

“I can safely say general practice in NZ is completely under strain from underfunding from government, on multiple levels, and we certainly don’t look to gouge.

“And I think if you look at our overall prices, I think QMC is the cheapest offering in the region at the moment, as far as seeing a GP.”

scoop@scene.co.nz