Socso: 6 quotations received for workers' screening contract, BP won bid

The Social Security Organisation (Socso) said had received six quotations for its contract to testing workers for Covid-19 before settling on BP Healthcare.

In a statement late on Wednesday, it said that the selection was based on several criteria including test readiness, service outreach, Health Ministry recognition, as well test prices.

"This had resulted in the appointment of the current provider for Phase 1 of the PSP (Prihatin Screening Programme)," it said on its official Facebook page.

Testing for workers was mandated by the government as part of its efforts to safely reopen the economy after a partial shutdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, there have been criticisms as to Socso appointing only BP Healthcare to the task.

Medical news site CodeBlue cited doctors as saying general practitioners should be part of the testing network to tackle the problem of long queues and poor social distancing.

A check by Malaysiakini today found some workers complaining that they could not get an appointment to get screened while others had been told that results would take up to two weeks.

A lab official said the delays were due to the high volume of people getting tested. BP Healthcare is currently screening workers using RT-PCR which takes more time before the results are obtained. 

Socso explained on Wednesday night that this was because the rapid test kits recommended by the Health Ministry were not readily available.

Hence, it decided that the first phase of screening would use the more time-intensive RT-PCR method pending the delivery of rapid test kits for future screening phases.

Besides BP Healthcare, six other firms have been approved by the Health Ministry to carry out the tests.

As of noon today, there are 1,564 positive cases of Covid-19 in the country with 68 new cases reported. - Mkini