September the 25th, 2020 – The coronavirus testing process has been a thorn in the side of many people who claim it takes too long to get the desired result. These situations can occur in both emergencies and in order to travel somewhere, with different countries requiring different ”ages” of the test result in order for people to be granted entry. A new device carrying a price tag of a whopping one million kuna is set to make the coronavirus testing process that bit quicker.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 24th of September, 2020, the new PCR device for the rapid analysis of swabs of persons who have been tested for coronavirus, worth 812 thousand kuna including VAT in total, was put into operation in the premises of the Teaching Institute for Public Health in Brod-Posavina County, continental Croatia. The device arrived at the institute back at the end of July this year, three microbiologists were trained to work on it, and its capacity is 24 samples in three hours. Funds for the purchase were provided by Brod-Posavina County itself.
The director of the institute, Dr. Ante Cvitkovic, emphasised that the new coronavirus testing device is intended primarily for emergencies, which can now be dealt with here in Croatia as well. So far, test results have been being waited for for 24 hours and sometimes even longer in the case of emergencies. Patients who need to be treated urgently by the hospital for certain reasons will be tested. In addition, the device will be used in situations where there is a positive employee within a healthcare facility.
”We will test health professionals to find out who can work and who can’t. So far, these employees have been in self-isolation, now the results will be known much faster. Our colleagues will have much more room for maneuver to respond properly to the various challenges posed by COVID-19. Employees in homes for the elderly and infirm will also be a priority,” said Dr. Cvitkovic. The head of the Department of Clinical Microbiology, Dr. Zeljka Siser, said that it was a fully automated system for molecular diagnostics.
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