Friday 31 December 2021

Private clinics open to partnering with N.B. to address COVID testing backlog

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/covid-19-testing-backlog-new-brunswick-1.6300771

 

Private clinics open to partnering with N.B. to address COVID testing backlog

Province reported backlog of about 3,490 PCR test requests Friday

As the province reported a backlog of about 3,490 requests on Friday, representatives from Distribution Ad Valorem and SRX Health Solutions said the companies would be open to partnering with the government to boost its testing capacity.

"It would be our pleasure to help the government and support the Canadian people in whatever capacity we can," said Stephanie Nazywalskyj, spokesperson for SRX Health Solutions, which operates a COVID-19 testing centre in Moncton, in addition to others across the country.

"It's of huge interest, but whether the government will respond very favourably, we don't know yet."

Marie-Pierre Beaubien, president of Distribution Ad Valorem, said her company would also be open to partnering with the province on testing.

The company operates testing centres at the airports in Fredericton, Moncton and Saint John, where clients pay a fee to receive either a rapid antigen test or a PCR test.

Currently, PCR test samples have to be sent to a lab in Nova Scotia to be processed, but Beaubien said the company will be able to boost its capacity in the next few days after acquiring a machine that will allow it to independently process PCR tests in Moncton.

Distribution Ad Valorem, which offers PCR testing at New Brunswick's three largest airports, would be open to partnering with the provincial government to bolster its COVID-19 testing capacity, said company president Marie-Pierre Beaubien. (Submitted by Distribution Ad Valorem)

"We haven't had any discussion on [partnering] with Public Health of New Brunswick, but if they do approach us in that case, we'll be open to have discussions on that if we do have the capacity of helping them," she said.

The Department of Health didn't respond Friday when CBC News asked if it was open to partnering with private companies to boost testing capacity in the province.

The province has experienced backlogs in its COVID-19 testing capacity off and on throughout the pandemic. It became significantly worse in recent weeks, when record numbers of new cases were reported almost daily, including 572 on Thursday.

On Wednesday, Public Health reported a backlog of about 2,500 requests in the Saint John region, 450 in the Fredericton region and 150 in the Moncton region. Though the backlog dropped to about 2,200 in the Saint John region on Thursday, it climbed to 750 in the Fredericton region, and 540 in the Moncton region.

In a news release Thursday, the province said more resources and extended hours have been allotted to the Saint John assessment centre to help clear the backlog, and members of the Canadian Red Cross are on site to assist.

Other provinces have seen similar strains on testing, forcing some to limit who they offer lab-based PCR tests to.

Facing the same problem, the Manitoba government announced Wednesday that it had struck a deal with Winnipeg firm BioScision Diagnostics. The company says it has offered to process as many as 1,000 tests per day.

MLAs urge action on combating backlog

As the Omicron variant led to surging case numbers in other parts of the world, the provincial government should have taken notice and bolstered its testing capacity early, said Edmundston-Madawaska Centre MLA Jean-Claude D'Amours, who serves as Opposition health critic for the Liberals.

Even in his riding, where no backlogs have been reported, residents have complained of waiting more than 100 hours to receive results, he said.

D'Amours said turning to the private sector might not be the perfect solution for addressing the backlog, but it might be necessary.

"The first thing that the provincial government needs to do is to look around what the other provinces are doing in the country," D'Amours said.

"And I know that in some cases, they are asking for any resources to help. If those resources are coming from the private sector, is that the perfect solution? Probably not, but what else … can the government present to us that will solve the actual situation?"

Liberal health critic Jean-Claude D'Amours said the government should have acted earlier to bolster its PCR testing capacity. (CBC)

Green Party Leader David Coon said provincial health workers have been working flat out during the pandemic, and the current backlog appears to be a result of the Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre in Moncton hitting a "ceiling" in its testing capacity.

With that, the province should respond by using the Saint John Regional Hospital's lab to analyze samples, Coon said, adding he wasn't opposed to seeking help from the private sector.

"I think at this point, whatever arrangements can be made to ensure that we eliminate the backlogs and keep ahead of the testing should be done," said Coon.

"The sooner we can get the capacity increased for the PCR test, the better. It's an essential tool. It's an essential tool not only to ensure people are isolating, but to ensure people [know when they] can return to to work."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Aidan Cox

Web reporter/editor

Aidan Cox is a web writer for the CBC based in Fredericton. He can be reached at aidan.cox@cbc.ca and followed on Twitter @Aidan4jrn.

CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices

 

 

40 Comments
 
 
 
David Amos
Methinks everybody is out for the big COVID score N'esy Pas?
 
 
Graeme Scott
Reply to @David Amos: Nothing wrong with that. See a demand for a service or product, provide that service or product, make money. That's how our economy works.
 
 
Gerald Celente
Reply to @Graeme Scott: That is definitely how the pharmaceutical companies work. Profit is the driving factor in production - not health. They could just as easily be making and selling Agent Orange. Wait a minute... What about Monsanto and Bayer?
 
 
David Amos
Reply to @Graeme Scott: Methinks there is no doubt the greedy people you admire will get a lot more of our Health Care Funds now that your hero Higgy has tested positive for COVID-19 and non-urgent surgeries cancelled much to the chagrin of many folks who need bypass etc N'esy Pas?
 
 
David Amos
Reply to @Gerald Celente: Bingo
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
phil mckay
Conservatives have defunded our healthcare system so it doesn’t work….and then sell it off piece by piece
 
 
Graeme Scott
Reply to @phil mckay: Do the math. The Liberal Party of Canada has been in power federally for a majority of the years since Medicare came into being in the '60's. They share equal blame for the decline in federal funding of medicare from 50% at it's inception to near 20% today.
 
 
David Amos
Reply to @Graeme Scott: How do you explain Higgy et al refusing to give me a Medicare Card and the doctors he adore demanding that I pay them in advance for their tests on my old ticker???  
 
 
 
 
 
 
Jimmy Belafonte
Cha ching
 
 
David Amos
Reply to @Jimmy Belafonte: Well put

 
 
 
 
 
Rob Sense
Fear the evil private sector...mouhahaha!
 
 
David Amos
Reply to @Rob Sense: I am too dumb to know fear and my Labrador puppy does not have enough sense to get out of the rain. However we are just wise enough to never trust anything a politician, taxman, lawyer or cop claims. Methinks that makes us typical Maritimers N'esy Pas?
 
 
 
 
 
Jimmy Belafonte
Grifters gonna grift.
 
 
David Amos
Reply to @Jimmy Belafonte: Par for the course
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Rick MacMillan
It didn't take long for the vultures to land. Keep your grubby hands off our health care, please.
 
 
Colin Seeley
Reply to @Rick MacMillan:
Should read like take your hands off our grubby health care.
 
 
David Amos
Reply to @Colin Seeley: I thought you were a nurse???
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Michael Cain
PCR test samples have to be sent to a lab in Nova Scotia to be processed? kidding, right?
 
 
Maxime Babineau
Reply to @Michael Cain: The PCR tests that are administered by the private company are sent to NS. The CHUDGLD in Moncton is only processing tests administered by the province.
 
 
Michael Cain
Reply to @Maxime Babineau: yup, that's what it reads
 
 
David Amos
Reply to @Maxime Babineau: Do you have a stake in this wicked game?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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