MP of the Pro Moldova parliamentary group Ruxanda Glavan said the laboratories of the National Public Health Agency, which initially claimed the exclusive right to do tests for COVID-19, continue to work without any kind of accreditation. According to her, the accreditation of the Agency’s central laboratory expired in October 2019. If the central lab has worked without the mandatory accreditation for eight months, the regional ones surely do not have any accreditation and work illegally, IPN quoted the MP as saying in a news conference on June 10.
“How many tests of those reported proudly by officials were done in private labs and were paid with taxpayers’ money and how many were done out of the authorities’ sincere wish to help fight COVID-19 and to massively and freely test the population and medical staff? I want to know when exactly did the 80,000 test kits paid with 35 million lei public funds arrive in the country? When did the WHO accredit the laboratories of the National Public Health Agency for doing tests for COVID-19, as the authorities asserted, given that the annual accreditation for poliomyelitis or measles or for flu has nothing to do with COVID-19,” stated Ruxanda Glavan.
According to the MP, the labs about which the Agency’s administration said that they are the only ones that can perform tests and that can be trusted do not have the mandatory accreditation that is provided by the National Commission for Health Evaluation and Accreditation. “De iure, they do not have the right to perform medical examinations. At the same time, at least two private labs accredited by MOLDAC (National Accreditation Center of Moldova) that have quality certificates were abusively eliminated from the process for a period so as not to spoil statistics,” stated Ruxanda Glavan.
Contacted by IPN for a comment, press officer of the National Public Health Agency Olesea Croitor said the institution already pronounced on the involvement of politicians in public healthcare and in the management of the COVID-19 crisis. “The insistence at which public figures, in particular MPs, make unfounded accusations against the public healthcare system and involve this in false speculations and profit from the current COVID-19 situation so as to improve their image and mislead public opinion only confuses the population and specialists who make colossal efforts to contain the pandemic and to ensure the functionality of the involved institutions,” stated the Agency earlier.
As to the assertions about the accreditation of labs, Olesea Croitor said the National Public Health Agency will make a comment later.
