Page 73 - FIGHT AGAINST UNCERTAINTY 5 FEB 2021

Introducing Point of Care Testing (POCT)

through usage of COVID-19 RTK Antigen in MOH

Facilities

Medical Development Division made possible the bringing in of RTK
Antigen kits into the country through central procurement with the
help of MOH Procurement Division, MOH Policy and International
Relation Division through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The
challenge in procuring the kit as it is first of its kind in COVID-19
tests was in ensuring the reliability of the diagnostic kit and the
authenticity of the supply. As competition with other countries
intensified, decision was made with confidence in procuring the kit.
Soon after, the use of RTK Antigen was internationally recognized
and task at hand was then only left with securing the amount of kits
to procure.

Efforts were carried on with allocation of kits to MOH hospitals,
health clinics and later on to all International Point of Entries such as
the international airports and harbour entry points. Simultaneously,
Medical Development Division organized and produced the
Guideline on COVID-19 Testing Using Antigen Rapid Test Kit (RTK-
Ag) for MOH Facilities. The guideline has reached its 4th version
with on-going revision and consideration of inputs from all end-users
particularly from the Infectious Disease Service, Forensic Medicine
Service, IMR and the National Public Health Laboratory.

To date, a total supply of 1.1million RTK Antigen kits have been
successfully secured for the country amounting up to RM38.9m
in cost. Currently, Medical Development Division is still actively
involved in audits and trial runs of the test in order to monitor 1 1. Brainstorming the way forward of COVID-19 POCT RTK-Ag testing
the efficacy and suitability of the kit. This crucial step has led to 2. Excerpt from the produced guideline on the usage of COVID-19 RTK-Ag test
3.
Audits and Trials Run on RTK-Ag
important changes in policy and implementation such as the use of 2 3
RTK Antigen as screening modality at Point of Entries, and the use
of RTK Antigen as confirmatory test (with national level approval) in
Sabah where disease prevalence was exceptionally high.

59