Health Minister Warns Against Testing At Unauthorized Facilities

Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, says visiting unauthorized facilities to be tested for COVID-19 poses a higher risk for an inaccurate test result. Speaking at a COVID Conversations virtual press briefing on January 6, he said Jamaicans should exercise caution in this regard, as unauthorized testing sites may not provide adequate training and resources to produce accurate COVID-19 test results.

“There are some sites or locations that are advertising tests that are not authorized either by the Public Health Lab or the Jamaica National Agency for Accreditation (JANAAC) and [for] persons, maybe unsuspectingly, going to access those tests, we can offer no guarantees,” the Minister said. He said JANAAC, which is an agency that offer accreditation services constituted of Laboratories, Inspection Bodies and Certification Bodies, has a “very critical response of process flow and human component [in the techniques used for testing]”.

Dr. Tufton pointed out that there are different margins of error according to the testing methods used, even at approved facilities. “The Polymerase Chain Reaction Test (PCR), which involves more detail and sensitivity, is the gold standard test of COVID-19. [It] takes longer for a result to be returned, it is more expensive, if you look at it from a cost perspective, [but] the best chance of having an accurate test is through PCR. The Antigen (test) is next, and is used primarily when you have symptoms, but when you don’t, you run a greater risk of false negatives,” he said.

Dr. Tufton pointed out that in addition to the technology used for testing, the relevant practitioners must also be skilled and qualified to administer a COVID-19 test. “As you widen the net of more persons administering tests, the probability of more accurate or less of more false positives or false negatives will widen and so we have to accompany testing with the other methods [such as] mask wearing, and getting a second opinion,” he advised. “We have to be very transparent about that and we say to persons if you have symptoms, seek a more accurate test, even if you get a negative test with one of the less accurate tests,” he added.

Dr. Tufton said systems governed by JANAAC, which is the agency under the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, and the Public Health Lab which gives support, offer the best chance of an accurate result. To date, the private facilities authorized for COVID-19 testing are: Complete Care Medical Centre, St. Ann; Dr. Garg Medical Practice, St. Catherine; Pulseline Family Medical Centre and Sekhmet Medical Limited, St. James; Pure Jamaica Medical Centre, Suretime Emergency Medical Services Ltd., Vein Centres of Jamaica and Windsor Wellness Centre, Kingston; RK Medical Diagnostic Laboratory at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston and Westmoreland; and Shimac Laboratory Services in Clarendon.