The Ministry of Health just decided (they announced it on their Telegram channel - text below) that from now on, all Corona testing will only be done with a referral (aka hafnaya) from the testee's kupat cholim (HMO). No more testing without it.
I don't know if that means the Home Front Command is going to stop the walk-in and drive-thru testing sites around the country, or if they will just change the way they operate and continue the operation just with the requirement of a referral.
It isn't a big deal to get the referral, - until now the kupat cholim have been giving them out no questions asked. So this is only going to accomplish getting more people to call the kupat cholim. That can become a hassle as the phone lines of the HMOs have all been overloaded recently. Unless the HMOs are being instructed to be more discerning with the referrals for Corona tests.
Additionally, the HMOs are being instructed to not give out Corona tests to anyone who already had Corona, unless there is a clinical reason to do so, rather than just due to exposures. They have to be sick, I guess, with symptoms, to get a Corona test.
They must want to cut down on the testing. Not sure why, other than maybe cost. Or they want to slash the statistics that have gotten out of hand and out of control (hence, the lockdown). Making it more difficult to get tested will bring the numbers down and give the lockdown the appearance of being a success.
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הודעת משרד הבריאות:
עדכון ההתוויה לביצוע בדיקות קורונה
היום 7.1.21 עודכנו ההתוויות לבדיקות קורונה. בהתאם לעדכון יש לקבל הפניה מקופת החולים לצורך בדיקת קורונה (מאתר קופת החולים או מהמוקד בהתאם להנחיית קופת החולים).
תבוטל התווית הדיגום החופשי.
כמו כן בהתאם להוראות, אין לדגום אדם שהוגדר כמחלים מקורונה בבדיקת קורונה (PCR) אלא אם קיים חשד קליני לתחלואה בנגיף ולאחר שיקול דעת פרטני. רצ״ב המסמך המעודכן.
דוברות משרד הבריאות
עדכון ההתוויה לביצוע בדיקות קורונה
היום 7.1.21 עודכנו ההתוויות לבדיקות קורונה. בהתאם לעדכון יש לקבל הפניה מקופת החולים לצורך בדיקת קורונה (מאתר קופת החולים או מהמוקד בהתאם להנחיית קופת החולים).
תבוטל התווית הדיגום החופשי.
כמו כן בהתאם להוראות, אין לדגום אדם שהוגדר כמחלים מקורונה בבדיקת קורונה (PCR) אלא אם קיים חשד קליני לתחלואה בנגיף ולאחר שיקול דעת פרטני. רצ״ב המסמך המעודכן.
דוברות משרד הבריאות
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Probably they are overloaded, yesterday they did 121,816 test, far more than the 60,000 tests a day they were doing a month ago. They probably cannot keep up with the growing demand
ReplyDeleteit is definitely taking longer to get results because of the overload
ReplyDeleteMy daughter had a test yesterday 3 pm and the results were on the kupat cholim website before 740 am today
Deleteimpressive. me and some kids tested via kupa through MDA and my results came back the quickest a day and a half. the 2 kids got results at about 2 days. was previously getting results at about 12 hours. Might be MDA's fault. dont know. someone who works in the labs and is somewhat connected to the corona labs told me they are swamped so it takes longer.
DeleteWhat about someone who's not on a kupa, like a tourist or a student? I had that situation, anD the free availability of the test was a big help. Now what am I supposed to do?
ReplyDeletegood question. I dont know. I do know that all the yeshivas and sems have been regularly (not sur ehow often but somewhat regularly) testing their students, who are almost all foreign. not sure how it works.
DeleteWhen you got tested at a walk-in location, how did you get your results? They ask you which kupa and the results normally get sent from the kupa. If you are a tourist with no kupa, how did you get results? and what did you say when they asked? how did they note it?
BTW, I see the walk in testing locations are still operating and with the same rules of no referrals. So I guess the rule as ordered must only be for the kupot to not test without a hafnaya
ReplyDelete