Inside twin labs that have tested 750,000 Covid samples to date

While the UAE is leading the world in conducting Covid-19 RT-PCR tests — processing over 200,000 samples every day — its laboratories have all been pitching in to support the fight against the pandemic.

A Jeddah-based private medical lab with twin facilities in the heart of Abu Dhabi City is steadily inching towards testing one million Covid-19 samples from clients that include the Ambulatory Healthcare Services Company (Seha) and private healthcare groups. It also accepts walk-ins from the public.

As Covid-19 peaked last year, Al Borg Medical Laboratories with its local arm Proficiency Healthcare Diagnostics (PHD) bolstered PCR testing capacity with more machines and expansion of facilities.

“When the pandemic started in March, reagents and machines were limited due to the novelty of the coronavirus. As the number of cases increased, there was an urgent need for mass testing, and we enhance our capacity with additional procurements. We steadily raised our daily capacity to test 5,000 samples and currently do 10,000 samples per day. Till date, about 750,000 samples have been tested,” said Mohammed Zafar, country head of PHD and Al Borg Group of Laboratories.

Khaleej Times toured the twin facilities, including the molecular biology unit where the Covid-19 samples are tested on a dedicated floor. There is a pre-analytical area where samples are received, sorted and registered by a data-entry team for testing.

“Over the last 20 years, we have been in the UAE serving the community and the medical fraternity. We have a team of 10 pathologists, technologists, and with our stateof-the-art labs, we have been effectively serving Seha, private medical facilities, universities and corporate clients. We deliver the reports within 10 to 12 hours to our clients,” Zafar said.

Since June last year, community members have been allowed to go for a PCR test at the lab, which is near the Department of Economic Development–Abu Dhabi. So far, more than 100,000 Covid-19 samples have been collected.

The group has 68 labs across the Middle East and Africa. “In Abu Dhabi, we have more than 250 staff from 20 different nationalities, including Emiratis.” Al Borg is now awaiting the approval to conduct antibody tests.