Why is Sabah unable to meet the mandatory foreign worker testing requirement?

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Sabah Faces Challenges in Meeting Mandatory Foreign Worker Testing Requirements

Sabah is unable to meet the mandatory foreign worker testing requirement due to insufficient testing capacity and limited supplies of testing reagents and kits. The state's health director, Datuk Dr Christina Rundi, has indicated that testing hundreds of thousands of foreign workers would overwhelm hospital facilities. While the private sector might assist in stages, it is not feasible as a prerequisite for businesses to resume operations.
Limited Reagent Supply for PCR Testing

Sabah Health and People’s Wellbeing Minister Frankie Poon previously stated that the state cannot conduct tests on over 100,000 foreign workers because of a restricted supply of reagents essential for Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing. This scarcity makes widespread testing a significant hurdle.
Risk of Overwhelming Healthcare Facilities

Dr Rundi expressed concern that if foreign worker testing were mandated before businesses reopen, Sabah's hospitals would be inundated with demand. She explained that the existing hospital infrastructure would be unable to cope with such a surge in testing requests, in addition to serving the general patient population.
Delays in Rapid Test Kit Arrival

Furthermore, Sabah had not yet received 150,000 rapid test kits that were expected to arrive from South Korea later that week. These kits, initially announced by the Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, are crucial for increasing testing capabilities.
Prioritisation of Available Test Kits

Given the limited supply of test kits, Sabah would have to prioritise their use for emergency cases, including patients requiring surgeries and other essential in-house medical purposes. This means that resources are already allocated and cannot be diverted to meet a broad mandatory testing requirement for foreign workers.

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Why is Sabah unable to meet the mandatory foreign worker testing requirement?

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