KINGSTON, Jamaica – The Ministry of Health and Wellness is looking into the potential use of COVID-19 self-test kits locally for personal and firm-level surveillance or monitoring of the virus, according to Health Minister Dr. Christopher Tufton.
Ministry of Health and Wellness Dr. Christopher TuftonHe said his ministry will review the information that is available and investigate how such a test could be used in our situation.
“There have been some queries concerning the use of the self-test, which means a test which you administer on yourself, as opposed to a lab doing the actual testing. This has become more popular globally, as the technology evolves and is becoming now a more important part of the overall self-check at the organization level check,” Dr. Tufton told Parliament.
“I have had meetings with the critical technocrats within the Ministry and this discussion will be expanded to [other] critical stakeholders, with the intention of assessing and, hopefully, allowing for the introduction, sooner rather than later, of these self-test kits for personal use and firm-level surveillance.”
Dr. Tufton added that his ministry will be engaging with the private sector to expand the number of testing laboratories for the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and antigen tests.
That initiative involves partnership with the Jamaica National Agency for Accreditation in the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce as well as the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association and the Private Sector Organization of Jamaica.
Meantime, Dr. Tufton said the Health Ministry is also in dialogue with the Ministry of Transport and Mining as it relates to the standard requirements of airlines that require COVID-19 testing for travel.
“This is with a view of attempting to meet those requirements. Some of those requirements are not up to us; it is what the airliners require. They normally require a lab-validated test [and] to the extent that we can make the process more efficient and less expensive, then we will pursue that,” he noted.
