New Covid-19 testing facilities open in Seychelles |05 May 2021
Guests undergoing test at the new centre at Eden Island (Photos: Thomas Meriton)
Seychelles Medical Services is a newly licensed health care company, owned by Justin Etzin, that opened the first state of the art Covid-19 testing laboratory in Seychelles, along with two highly equipped testing centres.
The official opening of the facilities was held on Monday afternoon at The Boardwalk Bar and Grill, followed by the ribbon cutting at the entrance of one of the centres on Eden Island and a visit of the facility. Present for the opening were the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Tourism, Sylvestre Radegonde and the leader of government business in the National Assembly, Bernard Georges, among other guests.
Visitors will be able to visit the luxury Travel Certification Centre staffed by a team of paramedics and nurses who will administer PCR or Antigen tests in a safe and comfortable environment.
The first two centres are located on Eden Island “The Blue Building” (next to Bravo Restaurant) and at the Seychelles International airport “Departure Area” (in the Payanke CIP lounge).
Seychelles Medical Services has the largest Covid-19 testing laboratory in the Indian Ocean, with the capacity to test over 30,000 samples per day, and these tests can track all known genes and variants of Covid-19 with the highest accuracy currently available worldwide.
The facilities offer the full range of approved mandatory tests for travellers in most countries, including Rapid Molecular Covid-19 test, the Gold Standard Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test, Rapid Antigen test and Antibody test.
The certifications and test results are guaranteed to be issued by email within 24 hours of taking the test with their standard service, within eight to ten hours with their express service and there is also a Fast Track service that can return the result in two to three hours.
Mr Etzin said that he was delighted to launch this new laboratory and facilities to provide a dedicated testing option to the exiting passengers and locals alike.
“Seychelles has recently been witnessing a surge in Covid-19 cases and reported Covid-19 cases. This is something that we are hoping to help bring down with regular testing, not only for tourists but also for Seychellois. My aim for setting up the laboratory in Seychelles was not just to support the tourism industry and its reopening but to help Seychellois themselves who wish to be tested. The price for Seychellois and GOP holders will initially be R1950,” Mr Etzin said.
Minister Radegonde congratulated Seychelles Medical Services on its initiative.
“I know that this is very much a labour of love, which took a lot of work and effort, so congratulations,” he said.
