Head of Health Protection, Dr Aalisha Sahukhan has assured the nation that Fiji has enough testing kits and machines to run COVID19 tests.
She confirmed that they will be receiving additional GeneXpert machines next week that will help her team run more tests.
“So we expect the testing capacity will increase, we have a temporary setback at Fiji CDC but going forward, we know not only will our capacity will increase but it will be more sustainable having it spread across Fiji,” said Dr Sahukhan.
She also made assurances that testing will not be affected despite the temporary closure of the Fiji Centre for Disease Control (CDC) at Mataika House in Tamavua. The centre is expected to be reopened by tomorrow provided decontamination works are completed and to the standard expected of such facilities.
“So CWM hospital, Tamavua Towmey Hospital, Lautoka and Labasa hospitals they all have some of these machines in their Labs so that they can do these testings on site. Fiji CDC was doing the bulk of the testings, we have more machines there, we have more staff, and the entire facility was dedicated to Covid-19 testing,” Dr Sahukhan said.
In Fiji we have two types of Covid-19 Tests, the Open RTPCR the Cepheid GeneXpert machine.
Picture Source: Fijian Government
