Why reject positive antigen tests results? asks DAP rep

 

Bukit Gasing assemblyman Rajiv Rishyakaran says his constituent’s test was not recognised and his quarantine was extended up to 17 days.

PETALING JAYA: A 42-year-old man tested positive for Covid-19 after a test with an antigen rapid test kit (RTK-Ag) on Feb 1. He reported his case on the MySejahtera app and went into home quarantine.

Seven days later, had himself tested again, this time with Real-Time Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test. He again tested positive.

Ten days after his first test and quarantine, he went to the Covid-19 Assessment Centre (CAC) for a release letter but was in for a shock. They refused to recognise his first test.

“He was told the CAC does not accept RTK-Ag results, counted only the three days quarantine from the PCR test. This extended his quarantine by seven days, making his quarantine period a total of 17 days,” said DAP’s Bukit Gasing assemblyman Rajiv Rishyakaran.

The patient, a constituent there, has been left confused, said Rajiv who now wants to know why the health ministry does not recognise positive Covid-19 tests from RTK-Ag.

“Who qualifies as ‘certified positive patients’? Is the PCR test the only acceptable test or is RTK-Ag also acceptable?” he asked in a statement today.

He questioned whether it was feasible for the ministry to depend only on PCR results since there have been reports of backlogs in processing tests and the cost was high.

Rajiv also asked what patients treated at home should do after their quarantine period, saying many were unsure if they needed to report themselves to the CAC or just wait for their district health office (PKD) to call them.

“Waiting for the PKD to give them a call is not a solution as reports have shown that many Covid-19 positive patients were not identified, let alone contacted even after being tested positive. Some were only contacted after their quarantine period.”

Previously, Galen Centre chief executive officer Azrul Mohd Khalib had agreed that RTK-Ag tests could be used for rapid diagnosis although confirmation should be done using PCR tests.

Studies have found that RTK-Ag has a sensitivity rate of 90%, which means the results could be inaccurate 10% of the time while the sensitivity rate of PCR tests is as high as 98%. - FMT