The capacity for tens of thousands of corona tests is in danger of slipping away from the Netherlands. The Saltro Laboratory will give the Ministry of Health (VWS) until Sunday to accept an offer whereby 10,000 Dutch corona tests are sent to Abu Dhabi for analysis every day.
“This is not intended as a threat, but it should be completed in three days. If not, the tests will go to another country,” said Saltro spokesman Wim Knol.
According to Knol, all formalities about the deal have been completed for some time, but VWS does not want to press the figurative button. “It is still not completed. The Netherlands wanted more testing, right? We can provide that in the coming months.”
The expertise of the lab, Unilabs Abu Dhabi (a sister lab of Saltro) does not seem to be the problem. It has recently been approved by the RIVM to perform corona tests. In addition, Spain and the United Kingdom are already sending thousands of tests by air to the lab for analysis.
The Netherlands still has a serious shortage of material for corona tests. A quarter of the tests purchased at GGDs is therefore already being analyzed in Germany. There is also talk with a Belgian lab and therefore with the lab in Abu Dhabi.
According to GGD GHOR Nederland, there are now about 10,000 tests per day too few. Minister De Jonge also said in the House of Representatives yesterday that there are currently insufficient tests available in the Netherlands.
Privacy concerns
According to Saltro spokesman Knol, the reason for the lack of a deal is that the ministry has concerns about the privacy guarantees of sending the medical data to the emirate. The Dutch Data Protection Authority already asked the lab about this last week more explanation over.
But data security is all right, says Knol, thanks to the construction of secure IT lines and the anonymous sending of samples.
The mails and documents from Unilabs in possession of the NOS show that the government of Abu Dhabi has offered to Unilabs to conclude a declaration of intent with the Netherlands on privacy. With that statement, the emirate would like to comply with “the Dutch requirements for data protection and other possible regulations”, is stated in an email.
The emails also state that Unilabs is in talks with the airline Etihad Airways about adjusting the flight times between Amsterdam and Abu Dhabi. Currently, there is still one flight per day between the two cities. The later that plane leaves, the more samples it could take. Another option offered by Unilabs is to operate more flights per day.
The test material that Abu Dhabi provides is made in the emirate itself. The Ministry of Health in the emirate, a large university, various investment parties and Unilabs worked together for this. At the end of July, they presented the chemical liquid to analyze corona tests.
The university posted this video about it on Instagram:
–
