Measures in place to boost process time for COVID-19 tests 

− staff trained, shift system to be implemented

The Ministry of Health is putting measures in place to ensure there are no backlogs of COVID tests

This was disclosed by Dr. Pheona Mohamed-Rambaran, Director of the Medical Lab at the Georgetown Public Hospital, who has oversight for the National Public Health Reference Laboratory (NPHRL).

Speaking to the Department of Public Information, Dr. Mohamed-Rambaran relayed that plans are in place to extend the hours of service at the laboratory. In coming days, the staff will be working 12-hour shifts to increase the number of tests samples being processed.

She explained that currently, the lab can process 140 tests per day (an eight-hour shift), however, with the ongoing ramp-up testing across the country, as much as 300 samples are sent to the facility daily.

“Over the next three days, we will have two teams. One will work from 8 am – 8 pm and another team from 8 pm-8 am. Collectively, the aim is to complete 300 samples in those shifts,” the doctor explained.

The Ministry also plans to create multiple teams to build the laboratory’s capacity. Consideration has been given to establishing four teams comprising six members each, who can process samples daily.

To that end, 18 Medical Laboratory Technologists recently completed training for COVID-19 molecular detection.

According to Dr. Mohamed-Rambaran, “we have about 12 persons we can utilise right now, however with the training that has just been completed we are going to be able to add to that”.

She noted that the Laboratory Technologists will have to have a period of practice to build their competency, “so we hope that within the next two to eight weeks, we can build on those numbers.”

End