HTX has received a Public Sector Transformation (PST) Dare to Do Award for its work on COVID-19 Human Swab PCR Analysis.
May Ong, Director, CBRNE Centre of Expertise (CoE), represented HTX to receive the award at the PST COVID-19 awards ceremony on July 6. The ceremony, graced by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong, was held to celebrate the exemplary efforts made during the pandemic.
The award recognises the work of HTX’s CBRNE team to support national COVID-19 testing efforts during the early onset of the pandemic. Although the CBRNE team traditionally focuses on homeland security, the team from various labs came together to take on human swab analysis at the land, sea, and air checkpoints.
“It was an unprecedented move by the team with zilch experience in clinical samples analysis,” May said. “Back then, there were no HSA-approved kits available.”
With the virus spreading, scientific community searching for solutions for SARS-CoV-2 virus detection, and global shortage of equipment and kits, the CBRNE team wasted no time and embarked on researching the appropriate primers to use and enhancing their lab processes. The team was able to start using the polymerase chain reactions kits that they co-developed with a partner for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 from March 2020.
The HTX CBRNE Lab was granted a six-month exemption from PHMC [Private Hospitals and Medical Clinics] licensing to operate to support border swab analysis of travellers for the various checkpoints – a vote of confidence in CBRNE’s quality of work and ability. The PHMC license is typically issued to clinics and medical institutions for the analysis of clinical samples.
“It is a major achievement for the team to be able to benchmark and gain recognition for the high standard of scientific work that we were able to deliver in a new and uncharted area within a short time,” said May Ong, Director, CBRNE CoE. “I am extremely proud of the team’s achievement.”
Today, the CBRNE team has gone beyond COVID-19 testing to work closely with the Ministry of Health’s Technology Evaluation and Implementation Unit to study the development of new health surveillance methods for pandemic preparedness.
In addition to the Dare to Do award, HTX’s CBRNE Team was also awarded the One Public Service award for COVID-19 PCR Testing Capacity Expansion.
