Legislative Assembly | Medical exams at border test 4,000 tourists but Macau ‘unable’ to test residents

The Macau SAR government can approve over 4,000 tourists to enter Macau after an equivalent number of Covid-19 medical examination were held near the border checkpoints, but it is unable to allow members of the public to pay for such a test anywhere in Macau, including at the public hospital.
During yesterday’s Legislative Assembly plenary session, the city’s newest lawmaker Wang Sai Man asked the local government where in Macau members of the public can pay to be tested for the Covid-19 disease and how much these tests cost.
But the director of the Health Bureau (SSM), Lei Chin Ion, said that Macau’s medical facilities are only able to test a maximum of 1,000 Covid-19 samples every 24 hours, telling Wang that members of the Macau public have no access to such tests by their own initiative.
Earlier in March, the Macau SAR government started medical examination tests at several locations near different ports.
On March 16, the Public Security Police Force (PSP) sent more than 4,000 visitors coming from high-prevalence areas to these locations to receive medical examination. These visitors waited six to eight hours before they were notified with a negative test result and before they were set free to move around in Macau.
Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Ao Ieong U commented yesterday that “SSM’s test machine is already working 24 hours [per day]. We can only test the suspected cases, we can’t provide extra services.”
Recently, the local government decided to start using the newly finished Kiang Wu nursery institute facility to quarantine people in close contact with confirmed Covid-19 infected patients.
Lei assured that the facilities will be safe for the quarantine personnel as well as for medical professionals working at the site.
Another matter concerning hospital facilities is the Islands District Medical Complex, which is expected to start operations in 2023 at the earliest, according to the Secretary, who revealed the update after being questioned by lawmakers José Pereira Coutinho and Wong Kit Cheng.
Amid the development of Covid-19, the two lawmakers were concerned about healthcare facilities and medical professionals.
The Secretary reported that the Islands District Medical Complex is expected to finish construction by the third quarter of 2022. After that, it will take approximately another year for refurbishment. The island medical complex will have 64 “high-quality” isolation rooms.
Aside from the abovementioned topics, lawmaker Chan Iek Lap proposed that the government distribute cash to medical professionals, especially to private sector doctors. As Chan has been voicing at the AL recently, private sector employees need the local government’s help “in order to survive.”
In Chan’s opinion, distributing money to private doctors, saves procedural troubles compared to other kind of schemes that might require doctors to apply and have the government then review their applications. JZ