SVG’s Coronavirus testing being done regionally

WHILE THIS COUNTRY works towards putting in place local capacity to test for the coronavirus, health officials have been utilising the services of a regional laboratory which provides a four to six hour turnaround on test results.

Dr Simone Keizer- Beache, chief medical officer (CMO) told SEARCHLIGHT yesterday that Dominica, the only OECS country that is presently able to test for the coronavirus (Covid-19), is able to do so because of their state of the art medical laboratory, which has recently been completed at the new hospital being constructed there by the Chinese.

“The lab is finished and they have the capacity to do this sort of testing. All they needed was the specific PCR (Polymerase chain reaction) platform to be added, and they got the test kits from PAHO (the Pan American Health Organization).”

Grenada is in the process of buying this platform and testing kits, Keizer- Beache said, because “St George’s University has a laboratory which has the set up to allow the testing”.

The CMO said St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) is working towards being able to do testing here, but in addition to acquiring the PCR platform and test kits, three special rooms must be prepared to allow for test preparation, the test equipment and posttest procedures.

The MCMH cannot accommodate these three rooms Keizer-Beache said, so other locations here are being considered. Also, additional equipment including a safety hood must be purchased.

“That not withstanding, we are still going to try,” she said, adding that getting the necessary equipment and platforms in place should cost over US$100,000.

“We, like St Lucia, Antigua, St Kitts, all the other OECS countries, we send our samples to Trinidad to CARPHA (the Caribbean Public Health Agency), and once they get there, it’s a four to six hour turn around for results,” Keizer- Beache said.

Also, on Wednesday, Barbados offered to take swabs from SVG for testing.

The CMO said SVG has accepted the offer from Barbados and will buy the test kits for Barbados to use when testing swabs from SVG.

“So we have the option of Barbados and Trinidad until we get our systems up,” the CMO said.