Mass Testing: Nad Doesn't Rule out Mobilisation of Medical Personnel

Bratislava, October 29 (TASR) – Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad (OLaNO) on Thursday didn’t rule out the possibility that medical personnel will have to mobilised to help with mass testing in the country, stating that no political decision has been made on this yet.
The minister explained that the Government will wait until Thursday afternoon, which is when the exact numbers of medical workers provided by private hospitals and medical volunteers will be known.

At the same time, the minister conceded that the final decision on whether there will be a second round of mass testing hasn’t been made.

“We’re doing our utmost so that it won’t come down to mobilisation … We haven’t made any decision on it yet, but we’ve prepared documents to mobilise selected personnel from certain regions if necessary,” said Nad.

The minister called on medical workers who can swab samples and evaluate results to enrol. Even though a total of 1,100 people, mainly medical workers, registered on Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning, Nad claimed that more qualified personnel are needed for swabbing. According to the minister, the operation needs 2,000-3,000 such workers for both Saturday and Sunday.

The minister reiterated that the sites chosen for taking samples are safe and that there’s no reason to worry about contracting coronavirus at these locations. According to him, there has been no confirmed case of anyone catching the virus during the trial phase of testing that took place in Zilina and Presov regions last week.