[Source: Ministry of Health & Medical Services - Fiji]
Three new testing machines at the Fiji Centre for Disease Control (Fiji CDC), means health officials can now run 16 tests per machine at once instead of four.
This allows for up to 1000 additional tests per day and will become helpful in our current crisis.
The Health Ministry says for the moment these machines will be used for COVID-19 testing, but in the future, they can also support testing for a range of other diseases, such as influenza, tuberculosis and HIV testing.
The machines were procured by the World Health Organization (WHO) with funding support from the European Union (EU).
[Source: Ministry of Health & Medical Services – Fiji]
Minister of Health and Medical Services, Dr Ifereimi Waqainabete, says the 16 module Gene Xpert machine has come at the right time boosting our testing capacity as we face the current wave of new cases.
He adds the machines will further enhance our ability to turn around testing results quickly and make decisions on our public health response.
Dr Waqainabete also thanked the EU Ambassador, Sujiro Seam, and the Acting WHO Representative to the South Pacific, Dr Akeem Ali, for their continued support for the country’s efforts to prepare for and respond to COVID-19.
