The mobile sample collection units, launched on Monday by the Ministry of Public Health in Region Four, have been set up to take services for COVID-19 to residents and not have them go to a hospital.
During the launching of those mobile units at Georgetown, Herstelling on the East Bank of Demerara and Paradise, East Coast Demerara, it was stressed that the ministry cannot have persons going to the hospitals while it has been promoting the practices of social and physical distancing. Dr. Leston Payne, the Deputy at the Health Emergency Operating Centre, who outlined how the units work, explained that when patients enter they will be taken to a waiting area, where they would be met by a triage nurse and then given an order when to be directed to another triage area where their vitals, name and other biodata will be taken. The patients will then move to another area, where they will be questioned to gauge if they will be a candidate suitable for testing. If a determination is made, the persons will be directed to a secondary screening area, where a sample will be taken from them for testing. Dr. Payne noted that the entire process should not take more than 5 to 10 minutes per patient.
The samples after being taken will be stored and then sent to the National Public Health Reference Laboratory for testing. He assured that the patient data will be kept confidential.
In a video presentation on the Ministry’s Facebook page, the Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr. Karen Gordon-Boyle stated that the purpose is to have those units go to communities that may be high risk or communities where there may be a need for wider testing. As a result, it was noted that while the first units have been deployed to Georgetown and along the East Bank and East Coast corridors, the ministry is looking at other communities where there may be COVID-19 clusters based on the information it has gathered.
