No shortage of kits used for collecting samples, says official

THERE is no shortage of Universal Transport Medium (UTM) used for collecting samples to take to laboratories, PNG Institute of Medical Research Institute’s (IMR) Prof William Pomat says.
“The UTMs have arrived and have been distributed throughout the country,” he said. He corrected a statement made last week that there was a shortage of UTM in the country.
The UTM kit or tube is used by clinicians to collect samples to take to the laboratory for testing, he said.
Pomat said the procuring of UTM was the responsibility of the Health Department and not IMR.
He said IMR ran short of important reagents needed to conduct Covid-19 tests and that was the reason samples were sent to Australia for testing.
“We have some reagents but we cannot complete the tests properly without the complete sets of reagents,” he said.
“We are at a stage where we couldn’t receive any more samples.
“We put in a large order for reagents but due to the global demand these orders are in queue.
“Our partners are helping to procure reagents for us and the invoice will be paid by the Government.
Pomat said the reagents should come in this week or next, “but we are hopeful they arrive by the end of this month for testing to begin in the country”.