KUALA LUMPUR, March 23 — Thomson Hospital Kota Damansara is now offering drive-through testing for Covid-19 at its premises beginning today.
In a digital poster, the hospital said that the service, which costs RM580 per person, can only be done by appointment, and provided both a WhatsApp number and QR Code for the said purpose.
The programme will be open daily from 8am till 8pm, with a guarantee that results will be known between 48 and 72 hours.
Currently, the Ministry of Health (MoH) has 59 designated hospitals across Malaysia for Covid-19 screening, with 26 hospitals that will admit patients if they fall within certain criteria.
On March 9, MoH announced that it is collaborating with the private medical sector to provide sample collection services from home and have them tested for Covid-19.
This service is specifically targeted at asymptomatic individuals, to enable them to undergo the home testing and prevent overcrowding at government health facilities.
“The public can access this service by downloading the related application to schedule the home visit appointment for sample taking.
“However, there will be charges for this service,” Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah added.
The Covid-19 home screening programme is developed by Qualitas Medical Group, in collaboration with DoctorOnCall and Clinipath Malaysia Sdn Bhd.
The programme can be accessed through the DoctorOnCall Health Advisory platform, that is available on the MoH’s website.
Callers can request to speak with a Qualitas doctor for advice and screening on Covid-19, who will then assess and determine if the caller is high risk, based on MoH’s guidelines.
Earlier, in a special briefing for senior journalists and editors from various media organisations the same day, Dr Noor Hisham said that the step is also necessary, as overcrowding in hospitals poses a higher risk of infection.
This, he said, is especially true when those who are already suspected of having Covid-19, also queue together with asymptomatic persons or healthy individuals.
