By: Spokesman Newsroom
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (Thursday 30th September 2021) — Minister of Health Akilah Byron-Nisbett issued a public apology for a backlog in COVID-19 testing during the sitting of National Assembly on Thursday 30th September and announced that regional assistance has been sought. “Over the past couple of weeks our laboratories have been stretched, and that meant that our turnaround time results have been affected significantly. I wish to take this opportunity to apologise to the general public for the delay in results, and I want to assure you that the Ministry is in the process of having these backlogs cleared expeditiously. We have sought regional assistance with the clearing of this backlog and are hoping to have this cleared over the next few days,” she stated.
The JNF laboratory has received revalidation and will now process COVID-19 samples, adding capacity of 120 to 240 additional samples per day. Current daily testing capacity: Next Generation Lab processes 150–300 samples; Avalon Lab 20–40 samples; QDL 8–12 samples (with capacity increasing shortly). Total current capacity: approximately 298 to 492 samples per day. For Nevis, the Alexandra Hospital is working on getting a PCR machine online, which will allow Nevis to handle its own samples. Opposition SKNLP Chairman Dr. Terrance Drew, speaking on Freedom FM’s ‘Issues’ that day, called on the government to “bring everybody onboard,” hire more health workers, and said the infrastructure and mechanism were not put in place — “that is why people are in quarantine for extended periods of time. Many workers in the health sector are tired and burnt out.”