(Trinidad Express) Private medical labs across Trinidad and Tobago are now being encouraged to begin performing tests for the COVID-19 coronavirus.
At a press conference in Port of Spain today, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said that once the CARPHA-certified labs were equipped with the PCR (polymerase chain reaction) machines, they could proceed, once validated by CARPHA.
The PCR machine is the diagnostic tool used to detect the virus.
Deyalsingh said these private lab tests may see a rise in the number of confirmed cases.
He said that between $1,000 and $2.000 was being charged by one private lab to do a series of tests including for COVID-19.
He asked that private labs price their tests reasonably.
The Ministry of Health had held the position that private labs could not performed the tests since they were not certified by CARPHA.
CMO Dr Roshan Parasram said previously that there had been three positive tests coming from a private that proved to be incorrect.
Today, Parasram said that that he could not recommend a private lab to do the tests.
A list of validated labs will be published.
Deyalsingh said that the new regulations that came into effect today requires that the private labs, certified by CARPHA, has an obligation to report the findings of the test, be reported to the Chief Medical Officer and not the individual.
He said that under the regulations, any lab that did not conform would be fined $50,000 or six months in prison.
He said the decision as taken in order to ramp up testing, and create a national database on the virus.
