Accurate, efficient Covid-19 testing key to enabling travel: Gribbles
By Ayisy Yusof - April 26, 2021 @ 8:52am
KUALA LUMPUR: Pathology Asia Holdings' subsidiary Gribbles Pathology (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd is advocating the use of immunity passports rather than vaccine passports.
Gribbles chairman Tan Sri Dr Yahya Awang said while recovery was in sight with the availability of vaccinations, testing was still required especially in relation to border opening.
"Given the amount of time involved and accuracy of the tests, testing may provide a better option compared to quarantine requirements for international travel," he told the New Straits Times recently.
Dr Yahya said testing was key to enable travelling but it was also important to control the spread of the Covid-19 virus to restore Malaysia's economy.
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"We believe testing at entry points is necessary to achieve this. Having the most accurate, efficient and convenient testing methods available in Malaysia will ultimately spur travel and economic tourism activities," he said.
Dr Yahya said testing would also be key to flattening the curve and the company would continue its efforts to lead the change and transition to a brighter future.
Apart from laboratory testing, the entire health ecosystem must collectively work towards providing a seamless travelling experience.
Dr Yahya said Gribbles and Pathology Asia were working closely with leading Covid-19 kit and platform suppliers, exchanging information regularly to improve and enhance the company's current methods and effectiveness.
"We constantly source for innovative ways of delivering laboratory medicine to our doctors. This includes sourcing multinational brands such as Roche, Abbott, Perkin Elmer, Thermo Fisher to maintain the quality and consistency of our supplies and services to meet the surge in demand.
"We also ensure affordability of testing to the public through bulk purchasing and enhancing operational and cost efficiencies. We adopt scientifically proven and approved methods by the Health Ministry such as saliva sampling, helping to reduce the overall cost of testing."
Dr Yahya said Gribbles would continue to explore various new testing methodologies.
Among the new technologies recently launched were RT-LAMP, Direct PCR, other Rapid PCR platforms, and fully automated PCR testing, which will address market demands for fast, accurate, scalable and affordable testing solutions.
For instance, RT-LAMP is used at several international airports such as Incheon Airport in South Korea, all London Airports and Manchester Airport in the United Kingdom, Dublin Airport in Ireland, Silvio Pettirosi International Airport in Paraguay and on a trial basis in Hong Kong Airport.
The key advantage of RT-LAMP is a shortened assay time of around one hour, reducing the time required to make a decision such as whether a passenger needs to be quarantined or not.
"Gribbles will continue collaborating with industry experts in providing research evaluations for new platforms, large scale project management and relevant information technology (IT) innovations for delivering health services," he said.
Gribbles expects wider adaptation of saliva testing that could markedly reduce the risk to front liners and facilitate mass screening management.
Chief executive officer Dr Nelson Nheu said there would always be a continuous need for testing to be accurate, convenient for both (doctor and patient), cost-effective, scalable and fast.
"We foresee continued development of innovative platforms for faster and highly accurate Covid-19 screening and testing, specifically for inbound-outbound passengers in mass commute transportation," he added.
Dr Nelson said this included new breath-testing, which would be very easy and convenient for patients to do so that more people can get tested.
IT and digital health tools will continue to play an integral part, especially for travelling purposes.
"Serology testing for vaccinated people is also extremely important to assess the efficiency of the vaccine in each individual. A vaccination passport is never the same as an immunity passport, as vaccination cannot guarantee immunity," said Dr Nelson, adding that testing must continue and remain especially at points of disembarkation.
Gribbles has partnered Maju Healthcare Sdn Bhd to set up the infrastructure and manage screening facilities and services, with it being responsible for managing the laboratory and testing.
With over 1,200 staff nationwide, Gribbles has an established network of 37 electronically-linked pathology facilities throughout Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak.
Currently, Gribbles performs tests for over 1.5 million patients per year, while providing medical testing in all disciplines to over 10,000 medical practitioners, hospitals and corporate clients.
The company is approved by the MoH to conduct Covid-19 RT-PCR tests.
Gribbles is also the first medical laboratory in Malaysia to have successfully undergone ISO 15189 assessment for Covid-19 PCR testing and will receive official certification by the second quarter of 2021.
It has a total of eight full-scale RT-PCR laboratories nationwide with a combined capacity of 15,000 individual samples per day.