With the aim of making the collection and processing of COVID-19 test samples “smoother and safer”, Eureka Medical Laboratories (EML) on Wednesday evening opened its COVID-19 drive-thru testing facility.
The site is located at 263 Thomas Street, North Cummingsburg, Georgetown – adjacent to the EML building. Visitors to the facility can enter the drive-thru by making a left-turn while proceeding north on Thomas Street after crossing Middle Street.
The facility, designed around a parking lot, will see persons driving, riding or walking through the drive-thru lane before arriving at a recreational vehicle (RV), which was retrofitted to offer the intended services.
The RV is named after Dr. Collin Boyle, the late brother of EML’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), William Andrew Boyle.
“The facility will make COVID collection and processing much, much smoother and of course safer. You can safely drive, walk or ride through without having to go into a building and to suffer possible infection,” William Andrew Boyle said while offering brief remarks at the opening.
The CEO described the RV as his “life-long dream” and expressed gratitude to Vice-President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo for his “timely intervention” which aided with the RV being cleared duty-free.
He also thanked all the members of the Eureka family.
“The only sad and embarrassing thing was that while this was sitting on the wharf waiting to be cleared, the RV was vandalised and they stole two televisions, a water pump, an inverter and even a mattress. That was sad, but it’s not going to stop us,” Boyle said.
Offering brief remarks at the simple ribbon cutting ceremony, Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Dr. Narine Singh welcomed the initiative on behalf of the Ministry of Health as it would make COVID-19 testing safer not only for persons being tested, but also for medical personnel conducting the tests.
“How we could make the testing much more easier and much more accessible to the public is one of the things the Ministry of Health cannot do alone and we have to collaborate with the private sector to get this done and Eureka was one of the first set of people to step up to the plate,” Dr. Singh said.
