Doctors body slams government over purchase of faulty Covid test kits
The Rural Doctor Society has attacked the government over its plan to buy a Chinese companys faulty antigen test kit (ATK) despite its dubious reputation.
The society on Saturday said that organisations concerned with the ATK procurement – the Public Health Ministry, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Government Pharmaceutical Organization and Ramathibodi Hospital – must show responsibility for buying the ATKs produced by Lepu Medical Technology in China.
The society said that the effect of the Lepu test kit was proved to be unreliable, according to a research in Pakistan published in the Virology Journal. The research showed that the kit shows 48 per cent wrong results, while the FDA of Thailand claimed that the product’s reliability in Covid-19 testing was 90 per cent.
In addition, the society pointed out that the Lepu ATK was expensive at THB70 a piece compared to the retail price of US$1, or THB33.
The Rural Doctor Society challenged the government to buy the Lepu test kits and prove if it were effective as claimed by the FDA.
