Nevis’ PCR machine expected to be fully commissioned by early November

by Devonne Cornelius

St. Kitts and Nevis (WINN): Junior Minister of Health on Nevis, Hazel Brandy-Williams says training sessions will commence as early as next week for the commissioning of the island’s PCR machine to accommodate COVID-19 tests. 

Minister Brandy-Williams was speaking at a sitting of the Nevis Island Assembly on Tuesday, October 05, 2021, when she made that disclosure. 

“The machine is on island and is presently being set up. What we are waiting on, presently, is a team of experts out of Trinidad who will come and commission the machine. They are expected on island next week because we have to arrange for them to come in a bubble…and to do their work without any hindrance,” Brandy-Williams said, adding that “PAHO consultants will come the following week to conduct training and to give the certification that is required”. 

The Health Minister stressed that “it is not a machine that you just plug in and start working. It is a work-in-progress. Installation, training and then the final certification before it becomes ready and available. So I am hoping, and based on the date the technicians have given me, by the first of next month, we should have the capabilities of doing in-house testing in Nevis.”. 

Minister Brandy-Williams’ comments come on the heels of an assurance given by the Federal Minister of Health, Akilah Byron-Nisbett that the PCR machine at the Alexandra Hospital will soon be commissioned.