CORONAVIRUS | The Health Ministry (MOH) is expecting that its capacity to process Covid-19 samples daily to increase to 22,000 soon, with two new systems installed at its facilities in Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu.
According to Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, the BGI automated processing system placed at the Institute for Medical Research (IMR) and Queen Elizabeth Hospital (HQE) are capable of processing a total of 6,000 samples daily.
The current capacity at 43 labs operated by MOH, universities and private agencies today is at 16,635.
"For IMR, we have installed BGI, that is actually an automated processing system. We hope to do 5,000 tests in IMR. The other one is installed at the Public Health Laboratory in Kota Kinabalu, that would give us about 1,000.
"By this weekend they should be ready, at least for IMR first. And the second phase at the lab in HQE. So in total, 6,000 tests a day, which means it will increase our capacity to almost 22,000 tests a day," Noor Hisham told a press conference in Putrajaya today.
He was answering a question on MOH's current capacity to process Covid-19 samples in its laboratories, which conduct the Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) test to detect the virus.
Noor Hisham said Malaysia's testing capacity is good.
He compared the experience of China where the republic's health authority conducted daily tests of 30,000 in Guangdong city, which has 110 million population.
"From our discussion with the team from China, from their experience, (Guangdong) has 110 million population, and they are only doing 30,000 tests a day.
"So we are increasing our capacity to about 22,000 a day, probably by next week or so. Capacity wise, I think that is good," he said.
Meanwhile, asked on whether MOH is still facing a shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) for its frontliners, Noor Hisham said the ministry has enough so far.
He said they are also making procurement of PPE to ensure enough supply for frontliners.
On the supply of blood, Noor Hisham admitted that the National Blood Bank is facing a shortage and it is normal during Ramadan every year.
Asked on whether there is any procedure that blood donors need to pass roadblocks on the way to donate their blood at hospitals, Noor Hisham said there should be no problem for those who are going to a hospital.
- Mkini
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