![]() She found "significant weaknesses in controls over inventory specifically relating to the receiving, recording and distribution" in both. In reviewing both organisations' finances for the 2021-22 financial year, Auditor General Caroline Spencer gave what's known as a "qualified opinion on controls". RATs were ordered by two different parts of government – 86 million by WA Health and 24 million by the Department of Finance. The state's Auditor General, Caroline Spencer, has also raised concerns over how the tests have been managed by government departments. WA's approach to buying RATs is likely to be probed as part of a review into its management of COVID. Professor Baxter pointed to Canada, where free tests are handed out to everyone through many grocery stores and pharmacies.Īnother suggestion is to offer surplus tests to developing countries, although Professor Dantas said with low testing rates in many places, the RATs might still not get used. "People will use them more if they're free, so much better to get them in the hands of people that can use them to manage risk than to have them just expire on a shelf." Professor Nancy Baxter says free RATs should be handed out to all. "We ordered a lot, but you don't know how many you're going to need … it was a pretty frightening and dramatic period," Premier Mark McGowan explained last week. Mr Aldridge also pointed to comments made during budget estimates last year, when the government admitted there was "no methodology" behind its decision to order 110 million tests, saying the aim was to get as many as possible. Professor of international health at Curtin University Jaya Dantas said while a good idea in theory, many developing countries were not interested in accepting donations because their populations were not testing for the virus. The state government said it had already donated 10,000 tests to Nauru and 5,000 to Indonesia. "Rather than continue to shovel these things out the door, I think the government should be considering either opportunities to resell them, or indeed provide them to other countries such as Indonesia who have been struggling with the disease in their community." "Now they may have had the greatest of intentions, but there does need to be some scrutiny of the transaction. "I understand the need to move quickly, but to spend $600 million with very little oversight, effectively the Department of Health went on an internet shopping frenzy trying to procure as many RATs as they could as quickly as they could," he said. WA Nationals MP Martin Aldridge has previously questioned how many RATs the WA government purchased, and said it was an area that needed to be reviewed.Īn estimated 50 million RATs are bound for landfill over the next few months. South Australia and New South Wales did not say how many tests each had been distributed or held in storage. “WA Health is exploring sustainable options for the potential recycling or disposal of expired RATs,” a government spokesperson said. The state government said around 132,000 tests were given away in October, 1.3 million in November, and 3.2 million in December – as WA prepared for what was expected to be a Christmas-induced COVID wave. WA is in second place by that metric, with 70,000 tests expired and another 2,040,000 expiring by the end of March. It said "all possible avenues" were being explored to recycle expired tests. "Queensland Health is also exploring avenues with the Therapeutic Goods Administration regarding extending the shelf-life of RATs." ![]() ![]() "This includes donations of self-administered RATs to the not-for-profit and other non-government sector organisations. "Queensland Health is actively managing the expiry risk of RATs and is exploring several distribution strategies to minimise avoidable expiry and disposal risks," a spokesperson said. It also has the largest proportion of its original order soon to expire, with nine per cent – or 3,470,000 RATs – either already thrown out, or due to expire in the next three months. ![]()
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