Hospitals have become crowded with people seeking to take PCR tests in light of the worsening epidemic situation. The CECC announced a plan if grassroots clinics would be willing to conduct PCR tests, there will be a NT$500 reward for each. However, some clinics say the feasibility is not high.
The number of new domestic COVID-19 cases continues to rise. Many people are rushing to hospital ERs to take PCR tests. To relieve the pressure on ERs, the Central Epidemic Command Center sent a letter on April 30 about plans to have grassroots clinics conduct PCR tests. The plan included a NT$500 reward for each conducted test. Some clinics say the feasibility is not high.
Lin Ying-jan, Chairperson, Primary Care Association: “Many clinics are very small, and there may be no way to triage. There probably aren't many grassroots medical institutions or clinics that meet the requirements.”
The Primary Care Association says many clinics don't have the staff and space needed to take on this task. They would also have to prepare personal protective equipment and reduce their hours in order to do so, not to mention the post-testing disinfecting and cleaning. As a result, not many clinics are willing to conduct PCR tests. The CECC also announced in light of the escalating epidemic situation that only people with positive rapid test results will be able to take PCR tests at hospitals. Some doctors say Taipei will need the capacity to process a minimum of 40,000 tests a day based on the situation in South Korea during its peak pandemic period.
Chiang Kuan-yu, General Physician, Taipei City Hospital Zhongxing Branch: “If you convert it to Taiwan's population of 23 million, the daily testing capacity needs to be at least 390,000. Taipei has a population of 2.5 million, so its testing capacity needs to be 42,500.”
Doctors say community transmission is happening and the accuracy of rapid tests and PCR tests is comparable. They advise the central government to accept a positive rapid test result as the official criterion for a case in place of the current requirement of a positive PCR test result. If it is worried about false positives, then it can set a requirement of two positive rapid test results. Rapid tests don't need to be conducted by medical personnel, so this frees up medical capacity to treat serious cases and at-risk groups.
新冠本土確診連續五天破萬例，大批民眾湧向醫院急診做PCR採檢，為了舒緩急診壓力，疫情指揮中心4月30號發函，打算讓基層醫療診所也投入PCR核酸檢測工作，而且每通報採檢一案可獲得500元獎勵金，但是有診所醫師認為可行性不高。
基層醫療協會理事長林應然說：「許多診所的空間都非常狹小，而且很難做分流管控，能夠符合需求的基層醫療院所，應該不會太多。」
基層醫療協會表示，主要是診所沒有多餘人力和空間配置，還要自行準備防護裝備、減少看診時段，以及採檢後的清消和整理，可能願意加入的診所不會很多。但隨著確診人數不斷攀升，指揮中心宣布，民眾快篩陽性後才可去醫院做PCR，有醫師預估，以南韓疫情高峰期的篩檢量為例，光台北市，就至少需要單日4萬多人次以上的篩檢量能才足夠。
北市聯醫中興院區一般內科醫師姜冠宇提到：「換算成台灣2千3百萬的總人口的話，至少要單日能夠負荷39萬人次的篩檢，那單就台北市250萬人口的話，至少要4.25（萬）人次的篩檢（量）。」
醫師建議中央，現在社區盛行率高，快篩準確性跟PCR已經沒有太大差別，如果擔心偽陽性，也可以快篩兩次來判讀，且快篩不需要醫護人員執行，以快篩陽性取代PCR作為確診標準，可以保存更多醫療量能，把重點放在重症高風險族群就好。
