UNC MP to Deyalsingh: Let pharmacies sell covid19 test kits

THE day after Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said his ministry is investigating claims a Princes Town pharmacy has been selling over-the-counter covid19 test kits, Caroni East MP Dr Rishad Seecheran is calling for this to be allowed.

During the ministry’s virtual press conference on Wednesday, Newsday asked Deyalsingh if he was aware a pharmacy had been advertised as selling rapid antigen covid19 test kits for $210.

He said, “I had a specific discussion with the CMO (Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram) this morning that we are going to be investigating all of these and bring the necessary charges.

"The charge under the public health regulation is a couple hundreds of thousands of dollars and six months in jail. We are taking this very, very seriously."

But in a release on Thursday, Seecheran said he wondered if this was an attempt to “reduce the ability of citizens to determine their covid19 status.

“With hundreds of new positive covid19 cases daily and with the death toll rising, the numbers do not paint a pretty picture of the Government’s management of covid19. Given the government's tidal wave of mistakes, it seems an attempt is being made to artificially reduce the daily tally of new positive cases.”

He said despite the ministry saying it has “a million syringes,” not enough people have yet been fully vaccinated.

“We are a country that has allowed the P1 (Brazilian) variant to enter our borders as we are unable to stem the tide of illegal migrants…We are a country where the Prime Minister asked all and sundry to visit Tobago for Easter and then be forced to call a state of emergency eight weeks later.

As of 4 pm on Wednesday, 160,927 people had been tested for the virus.

Seecehran said testing is not only important as it allows people to protect their family and loved ones but also provides additional surveillance, allowing people to find out “what we can do about the disease from a public health perspective.

"This is even more crucial with the new, more contagious variant of the coronavirus now spreading rapidly.”

He said the US Food and Drug Administration has allowed over-the-counter covid19 tests to be sold since last year. The approved tests, he said, include the Ellume covid19 Home Test, the Abbott BinaxNOW covid19 Antigen Self Test and the Pixel by Labcorp PCR Test Home Collection Kit.

He said these three tests do not require a prescription and are intended for use by people with or without symptoms.

“These options provide customers with access to convenient testing that can be conducted at home and serves to complement a nation’s commitment to providing their population with access to comprehensive covid19 testing services.”

If the ministry allows this, he said it would reduce the burden on labs and test supplies. But he noted a small percentage of antigen tests may provide false results.

“Therefore, for patients without symptoms, positive results should be treated as presumptively positive until confirmed by another test as soon as possible.

“Given the very long wait times currently being experienced for test results in the public sector and the increased load on the authorised private labs, the use of over-the-counter covid-19 tests should be a welcome addition to our arsenal in combating this surge. Every effort must be made to restore health and safety to our nation.”

Newsday contacted the president of the Pharmacy Board, Andrew Rahaman, who said his main concern is the fact that the nasal swab is "usually taken from deep in the back of the throat and the average individual labours to get it done when a professional does it."

Many people experience discomfort when swabs are being taken.

Based on all the test kits he is aware of, he said, "I don't think any individual could get that sample easily."

Should there be a test that doesn't require the swab to go that far back, he said it may be okay. But he does not know of any.

"So you know what will happen if the people doing the tests at home don't swab far enough (owing to pain). You will get a lot of false results, and they will be spreading it."

His second concern is that some people may not want to report their covid19 status to the ministry, which he said is crucial for contact tracing and monitoring.

On Wednesday, epidemiologist Dr Avery Hinds said a total of 16 people have died from the virus at home.