Published in: The Daily Star
Date: 19 July, 2021

The government yesterday allowed 78 private healthcare organisations across the country to conduct antigen-based Covid-19 rapid testing.

The move, which has been demanded for long, was taken for expanding testing facilities and making those easily available.

The approval of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) came more than one and a half months after it sent a letter to the health ministry, detailing the cost and other issues regarding the rapid antigen test.

Antigen tests are immunoassays that detect the presence of a specific viral antigen, which implies current viral infection. They are relatively inexpensive and can be used at the point-of-care.

The rapid tests in the private healthcare settings can be done for patients showing Covid-19 symptoms and those who came in close contact with Covid-19 patients, said the DGHS circular.

If the antigen test results of individuals showing Covid symptoms are negative, their samples will be tested again using RT-PCR machine for confirmation, added the circular.

The fees for a rapid antigen test have been fixed at maximum Tk 700.

In case of collecting samples from a patient’s home, he or she can be charged Tk 500 maximum as an additional fee.

This charge will be applicable once in every household irrespective of the number of patients.

The 78 healthcare organisations have to use the rapid antigen kits developed by two companies — SD Biosensor of South Korea and Panbio of the USA.

On September 17 last year, the government first permitted antigen-based rapid testing at 36 public healthcare centres. The figure is now 457 across the country.

In the rapid antigen testing, a suspected patient will get the result within 30 minutes after the collection of samples.

For the detection of Covid-19, the RT-PCR test is considered the golden standard and is widely used in Bangladesh. It, however, takes at least 24 hours to get results.

Source: https://www.thedailystar.net/health/disease/coronavirus/news/antigen-based-test-78-healthcare-bodies-given-permission-2133371