COVID Testing in Private Sector Clarified
Marvin Manzanero
The government recently announced that private facilities can carry out swabbing for COVID. And according to DHS Manzanero, except for the Central Medical Lab in Belize City, no other lab in the country can carry out PCR testing. So while private medical facilities are allowed to swab suspect COVID-19 patients, the samples must be forwarded to the lab for processing. Today, Doctor Manzanero clarified testing in private sector.
Dr. Marvin Manzanero, Director of Health Services
“It’s not a question of not having private sector to not do testing. I think what needs to be clear is that even if you are in private sector, you need to follow the due processes. We are in the middle of a public health situation so I think we need to clarify that. I am glad you brought up that particular item because no lab in the country has, as far as we know, capacity to do PCR testing because we keep getting asked daily how we are not allowing private labs to do PCR testing. It is simply because there is no capacity in the private lab to do a PCR as far as we know. We do know that two entities have asked for guidance in terms of being able to do PCR testing; one entity is in Belmopan, the other is in Belize City. So we are reviewing the paperwork that they have submitted to see if they will be able to do PCR testing. For now, the three platforms that are available for PCR testing are all within the government sector; they are all at Central Medical Lab. And if we go back to previous epidemic situations that we have had, I think we need to be appreciative of that extensive work that we have done at the lab in terms of being able to do diagnosis—something that many countries in the Caribbean still don’t have the ability to do their own PCR testing. In terms of rapid test, which I think is what started to go around, we circulated an internal memo that has found its way into private sector and in public domain as to what we intended to do with rapid testing. We have only been able to validate two rapid tests, but only one is available for use in country. We have had discussions with two private entities in Belize City and we have just completed the development of an algorithm that will become applicable to them. That clearly articulates under which conditions private sector will be allowed to do private testing. And it is not that people cannot do private testing, but then you cannot expect the Ministry of Health to validate or endorse any other rapid testing that doesn’t follow that specific algorithm.”
