KINGSTON, Jamaica – Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. Christopher Tufton says training arrangements are being finalized to facilitate local testing for COVID-19 variants.
The PAHO Jamaica office has been assisting the Ministry of Health and Wellness with the COVID-19 pandemic through training courses and the provision of essential equipment. (PAHO photo)Jamaica acquired a genome sequencing machine to test for COVID-19 variants in late October, but testing has not yet commenced.
“Currently, we are finalizing training dates with the manufacturer and selecting the samples that will be used during the training period,” the Health Minister said.
“At the same time, we are in the process of procuring a second sequencer, through leased funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and construction work has begun at National Public Health Laboratory, where this second sequencer will be housed.”
Dr. Tufton said that personnel to facilitate the training are expected in the island shortly.
“We would have liked to have commissioned this machine earlier, but we have to coordinate with the manufacturers and there is a global demand for the training and the experts, who are limited, for commissioning this type of machine. The reports I have from the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) coordinating with the Ministry’s personnel is that, in a sense, we are in a queue, but we do expect that personnel will come in, hopefully, over the next week or so for training to take place,” he added.
The Minister noted that as those details are being finalized, the Ministry continues to collaborate with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), CDC and Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) to send samples for genome sequencing.
For this week, the Ministry has sent some 49 samples to PAHO, 80 to CDC and 20 to CARPHA.
