Randox plans Covid-testing expansion as it refutes Channel 4 report
Randox will run one of the two private facilities opening at Dublin Airport this week for passengers requesting a Covid swab test. Picture: Leah Farrell / RollingNews.ie
Randox, the Co Antrim firm whose Covid testing laboratory was featured as part of a Channel 4 investigation, said it planned to go ahead and open its testing facility near Terminal 2 at Dublin Airport this week.
An undercover employee for the programme reported questionable practices at the laboratory, which has contracts for the UK's Covid testing programme in England and the North.
Randox strongly refutes the findings. Randox will run one of the two private facilities opening at Dublin Airport this week for passengers requesting a Covid swab test which it operates from space it rents from the airport.
The company has Covid testing facilities in other locations across the country.
A spokeswoman for Randox told the it continues to have discussions over new contracts and would welcome any work with the HSE in the future, "if the appropriate circumstances arose".
It already has test facilities in Cork city, at Leopardstown in Dublin, and in Belfast, and plans to open health travel centres in Galway and Limerick, the spokeswoman said.
Randox refuted the Channel 4 investigation, saying its "key rebuttals" included the programme's allegations of mishandling of Covid test samples at the Co Antrim lab.
"There are no recorded cases of samples going to waste. It is also physically impossible, should there ever be missed samples, for any staff member to ‘get samples all over them’ due to the stringent safety measures of the compactor/baler. Supervisors do continually stress and can occasionally embellish the importance of due diligence in accessioning, as was evidenced," it said.
"Valid samples are wiped down with disinfectant once unpacked" and "there is no possibility of cross-contamination", it said.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
