Last updated on Wednesday, 15, April, 2020
The world is facing a global crisis of coronavirus pandemic. The testing capacity has always been a question mark to the performance of any government in the world. In Pakistan, More than 5,000 patients have been reported to date. The current testing capacity of Pakistan is still very low. According to the Federal Health Minister, Dr. Zafar Mirza, the government of Pakistan is trying to increase the capacity to 20,000 PCR tests by the end of April 2020.
Meanwhile, InstaCare, who is always known for its innovation in making healthcare services accessible in Pakistan joined hands with Eurofins Biomnis, a Global European leader in Diagnostic Services through Balsa. With this collaboration, InstaCare now has the capacity to conduct up to 40,000 PCR Tests in Pakistan every month. It’s a massive contribution by a European leader to support Pakistan and is also a great support for the government where our own local pathology labs have a monthly capacity of fewer than 10,000 tests per month.
Eurofins is currently offering the test for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 in the USA, France, Germany, Spain, Brazil, and the Netherlands and soon in more countries with a global capacity of 15,000 tests per day and have already conducted more than 600,000 tests.
Table of Contents
How to Book COVID Test in Pakistan
- Through a web and mobile portal, a patient can book a test with a home sample collection service in Pakistan.
- A Patient can also use a helpline number i.e. 0317-1777516 to book a test.
- InstaCare will start collecting the samples with home delivery service in collaboration with Akram Medical Complex, Lahore.
- These samples will be shipped to Eurofins Biomnis diagnostic centers in Europe.
- Within 4 days, results will be produced.
- Digital Reports will be provided to the patients through InstaCare’s EMR.
Quality Assurance
Eurofins Biomnis performs 32,000 tests every day with a team of 737 pathologists, highly qualified scientists, and technologists. Currently, the European leader is operating in over 40 countries across the world with 23 international collection hubs.
The collaboration between InstaCare and Eurofins Biomnis through Balsa have collectively increased the national testing capacity to over 100,000+ Tests per month. It is also important to understand the importance of collaboration in this critical time when SARS-CoV-2 detection is crucial for every country. Not just the testing capacity but also the authenticity and quality of the test is a real challenge for everyone.
Current situation of PCRS tests in Pakistan
According to Government officials, Pakistan will have capacity of testing 25,000 patients per day by the end of this month. But are the testing kits that are employed currently precise enough to give credible results?
There are several instances when people were tested positive while they were not infected and then in the second text it showed they are negative. Consider that if a kit can show a negative case positive, then the opposite can also be true. If a corona positive has been ignored because of the wrong text result, this can cause serious consequences. That’s why, in any case, we must not compromise on quality. As mentioned above, Eurofins Biomins is currently serving in countries like Britain, US, and Germany.
Further, there are a few number of laboratories who are providing testing options but there are two problems. They don’t have nationwide reach and charge a considerable amount of money. To solve this problem, along with Akram Medical Complex, InstaCare will serve a vast number of people.