Halifax Medical Company Providing Covid-19 Testing For Essential Travellers
HALIFAX —When people in Nova Scotia are required to get a Covid-19 test, the vast majority will see a swabber who works in the public healthcare system. In Canada, with our universal healthcare system, it can be easy to forget that private healthcare companies exist.
One such company, Praxes, located in Halifax, has been helping to provide Covid-19 testing since June of 2020. Since Halifax is a port city and located next to a major international airport, there has still been a lot of essential travel in the area. That is where Praxes has specialized in its testing.
According to Dr. John Ross, Praxes’ medical director, half of their Covid testing clients are individual people travelling for a variety of purposes, and the other half come from groups of people travelling for essential work. Dr. Ross noted that there are many local industries that use a rotational workforce, and it’s important for them to have access to quick testing.
“It’s really quite distributed, to be honest,” said Dr. Ross. “The marine industry has many facets to it; whether it’s crew changes, people working on the ships, contractors on the ships would be a very robust number.”
“There’s also a number of companies that provide services outside the province. Many jurisdictions now require a negative Covid test prior to travelling and going into other countries.”
If an individual wants to get a Covid-19 test from Praxes, it will cost them $195. Dr. Ross said many of their clients are willing to pay the money to sidestep the public health route, because of timing and access. If a worker needed a negative test within 72 hours before being allowed to travel, it may be more efficient to get a company like Praxes to do it ASAP.
“It may be (time), it may be that the volume and accessibility to a testing centre. We have the ability to be mobile,” said Dr. Ross
“I think we’ve worked out a good relationship where we provide predictable timing for people.”
Praxes’ medical director believes the testing services they provide helps alleviate stress on the health system. Dr. Ross says the company is providing a business and industry need, which allows the public health officials to deal with their Covid-19 priorities.
“Businesses have to require this because of border security…it’s not really a health care system problem, per say, and therefore the healthcare system, which is already taxed, shouldn’t have to provide that,” said Dr. Ross.
“Also, we can hire our own people, so we’re not going to take away from the healthcare system.”
Praxes and the provincial government have even worked hand-in hand since October, when the Department of Health started a partnership with the company to test more travelers. Praxes is even allowed to use the provincial laboratory for their tests.
“The health authority has been doing asymptomatic testing for traveling purposes prior to that,” said Dr. Ross.
“We don’t offer Covid testing for non-essential travel…it’s more work-related or required for some purpose.”
Even though they are a private company, the folks at Praxes are, of course, required to share their Covid-19 data with the government. Ross says they have a good working relationship.
“We send them information on a weekly basis, and we have conversations with the public health laboratory people multiple times per week,” he said.
It’s hard to predict what kind of demand there will be in the future for private companies like Praxes to carry out Covid-19 testing, especially as more people get vaccinated. But with the Atlantic Bubble opening on April 19, it’s fair to assume the increased travel could lead to increased testing.
“I see us doing testing for months. It depends on how the vaccine rollout goes, what the uptake is like,” said Dr. Ross. “I would imagine the testing would gradually peter out.”