Ramp up testing, isolate patients to contain pandemic spread – CMLS

By Rathindra Kuruwita

There was no point in locking down the country or imposing travel restrictions unless the government ramped up testing, College of Medical Laboratory Science (CMLS) President, Ravi Kumudesh told The Island yesterday.

Countries that had successfully implemented lockdowns had increased testing, which helped isolate the infected. If the government could effectively isolate a large number of those infected, the spread of the virus could be brought under control, Kumudesh said.

“Look at how China is doing it. They test millions of people if they find 100 cases.

Then they isolate those who are positive and open up. This way disruptions to the economy could be kept at a bare minimum,” he said.

Kumudesh said that while PCR tests were important, rapid PCR tests, rapid antigen tests, too, should be promoted. While countries that had got COVID-19 under control had promoted those tests, powerful businessmen were preventing the expansion of testing in the country, he alleged, noting that the Rapid Antingen Tests could be conducted at home.

“Some may say the home tests are not as accurate as PCR. Okay, let’s assume the accuracy rate is 50%, that’s 50% more than doing nothing. Do we have an estimate for the cost of doing nothing?”

The CMLS President said that the Health Ministry had taken action against hard working officers based on unsubstantiated accusations, however, nothing was done about the officers idled.

“When we say government labs can expand testing capacity, senior health officers remain silent. If someone is misusing the facility, the Ministry has several institutions to investigate and prosecute,” he said.