The Ministry of Health’s testing capacity for COVID-19 received a boost with a donation yesterday of diagnostic laboratory equipment worth $7.2 million from the Chinese embassy in Guyana.
Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony explained that the Nucleic Acid Extraction System is expected to cut the nine-hour testing process to about two hours, which means that test results will now be available much sooner. He noted that the ministry will now be able to have 96 samples tested and more batches within every eight-hour shift.
Speaking during a brief handing-over ceremony at the Ministry of Health’s Brickdam offices, he disclosed that the Ministry had purchased a similar machine but was experiencing difficulty with having the machine shipped.
