Supervised ART For Covid-19 Patients At Quick Test Centres & Combined Test Centres
Yesterday (14 Feb), there were 9,082 new Covid-19 cases, of which 99.7% had mild or no symptoms.
But over the past few weeks, General Practitioner (GP) clinics and polyclinics have seen long queues of patients forming outside.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) is now advising people who test positive for Covid-19 on their self-administered Antigen Rapid Test (ART) and have no or mild symptoms, to take a supervised self-administered ART.
This can be done at any Quick Test Centre (QTC) or Combined Test Centre (CTC). The new arrangement aims to ease the pressure on GPs and Emergency Departments at hospitals.
S’poreans Urged To Visit GPs For Non-Emergencies As Hospital A&E Departments See Surge In Patients
Supervised ARTs at Quick Test Centres fully funded by the Government
According to MOH’s media release, individuals can do their supervised self-administered ART at CTCs and QTCs situated islandwide from 16 Feb-15 Mar.
Some of these places include well-known public spaces:
- Funan
- Kreta Ayer’s People Theatre
- Old Airport Road Food Centre
- Resorts World Sentosa
- Bishan Sports Hall
- Jurong West Sports Hall
This applies to those with no or mild symptoms after testing positive on their self-administered ARTs.
They can book their appointments for self-swab ARTs here. The tests are fully funded by the Government throughout this period.
You also check out the complete list of CTCs and QTCs here.
Covid patients will be notified of test results via SMS
The ART test results will be reflected in their HealthHub and updated in MOH’s records within 30 minutes.
QTCs and CTCs will not issue medical certificates and recovery memos.
If tested positive, patients will be placed under Protocol 2, i.e. self-isolate at home for 72 hours.
They can also collect 3 ART kits from vending machines listed here.
Ease pressure on GP clinics & polyclinics
The new arrangement comes after a surge in patients with no or mild symptoms going to General Practitioner (GP) clinics and polyclinics to get an ART.
Since they may not need emergency medical assistance, they can risk compromising individuals who require urgent medical attention.
Hence, to help GPs be able to focus on Covid-19 patients who need medical assistance, MOH hopes everyone can cooperate to preserve the nation’s medical resources for people in need.
Cooperation needed during trying times
Even though the reported surge in the number of patients may be distressing for the country, we believe that everyone is actively playing a part in looking out for each other’s safety.
So let’s do our part and carry out the necessary protocols.
We hope that everyone will be safe during this period and patients will have a smooth recovery.
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Featured image adapted from Google Maps, Tripzilla, and Google Maps.
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