Alvis Lo Iek Long, a clinical director of the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre, announced on Thursday that the University Hospital run by the private Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST) will join the government’s NAT scheme on Monday, with 500 places available per day. People can make an appointment to undergo their nucleic acid tests at the University Hospital in Taipa from today on the NAT scheme’s online appointment system.
Lo also said that those undergoing their nucleic acid tests at the University Hospital will have their sample collected via a nasopharyngeal swab.
According to Lo, however, residents and non-resident workers will have to pay the testing fee of MOP 120 even for their first COVID-19 tests at the University Hospital, although they do not need to pay for the first test when undergoing the test at the scheme’s main testing station in the Taipa Ferry Terminal in Pac On or the testing station at the Macau Forum complex in Zape. The COVID-19 testing in both venues is carried out by the scheme’s third-party testing institution Kuok Kim (Macau) Hygiene Examination Company Limited.
The private Kiang Wu Hospital joined the government’s NAT scheme last month. Residents and non-resident workers also have to pay the testing fee for their first COVID-19 tests there.
Lo said that unlike Kuok Kim, which has been commissioned by the government to carry out COVID-19 testing under its NAT scheme, the University Hospital has applied to provide the COVID-19 testing service under the government’s NAT scheme so that it is not a service outsourced by the government, just like Kiang Wu Hospital.
(The Macau Post Daily/Macau News)
PHOTO © University Hospital
