Tory donor's Covid-19 testing firms among companies under fire over poor service

TWO Covid-19 testing companies- one owned by a Tory donor and another by his son- are under scanner over complaints of exorbitant charges and poor service including giving late results, losing the sample and refusing refunds, a report said on Sunday (15).

1Rapid Clinics- a government-approved Covid-19 testing company- owned by Dr Ashraf Chohan, and Quick Clinics, owned by his son Jamal Chohan, are under allegations of poor service like refusing to refund, sending late results and losing the samples. 

Chohan’s 1Rapid Clinics was set up in December 2020 to offer traveller-testing including PCR tests for £70. However, the company has been receiving a string of negative ratings on the customer review website with more than half of the ratings calling the service “bad”, reports said.

Quick Clinics is also under allegations that test results from the company were delayed or lost, while test kits were missing swabs, with more than 67 per cent of reviews deemed “bad”, reports said.

Founder and chair of Conservative Friends of the NHS, Ashraf, the doctor-turned-businessman, who also owns a care home company, was previously said to be a significant Labour donor but began giving money to the Conservative party in 2019. He has since given £20,000, as well as send £750 hamper to prime minister Boris Johnson, The Guardian said in a report.

The two companies’ names emerged amid reports that the government’s Covid testing regime for travellers is close to collapse, with thousands of travellers failing to be properly tested on their return. Photos also surfaced online showing drop-off boxes run by Randox, the UK’s largest PCR testing provider, overflowing with unprocessed swabs.

The firms typically charge £70-£200 for pre-bought PCR tests that are mandatory for people arriving in the UK, almost twice the price that passengers pay in Europe. As per media reports, travellers arriving in the UK must have spent at least £500m on PCR tests from private companies since mid-May.

Jo Maugham, director of the Good Law Project, which has launched legal action against the government over its handling of contracts with private companies, raised concerns about the services and prices charged by private testing firms.

“When things (inevitably) go wrong, it’s the NHS and the public paying the price. Has this government learned nothing 18 months on?”