ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) was apprised that based on recommendations as per the World Health Organization (WHO) and other reputed guidelines, a national policy was framed to initiate the Rapid Antigen Testing to detect Coronavirus through the swift method under strict control.
The Executive Director of the National Institute of Health (NIH) Major General Professor Dr. Aamer Ikram briefed the forum that all the provinces were taken on board to devise a unified strategy to hold Antigen Testing as per the international standards.
The forum was told that initially, all government authorized public sector laboratories could perform the Antigen Tests for the specified categories.
The testing by the private labs will be at the discretion of provincial authorities but only those labs would be allowed which are already performing the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), endorsing data in the provincial/national hub and officially authorized for antigen testing by provincial or regional authorities.
The provincial representatives informed the forum about the NIH deliberations for opting the Rapid Antigen Testing and also mentioned that necessary arrangements were being made to hold the Antigen Testing in all major hospitals.
