For information on the coronavirus situation in Singapore, please visit the Ministry of Health website.
15 April 2020
Download the full letter here
Suspension of In-house Genetics Test Services
Parkway Laboratory Services will be expanding our capacity in order to meet a further increase in COVID-19 testing in support of national efforts in tackling the pandemic. Many of our staff will be redeployed to accommodate a surge in demand for testing and to provide for a rapid turnaround for this test.
Hence, we seek your understanding that we will need to suspend all our in-house Genetics test services with immediate effect starting from 15 April 2020, Wednesday for Amniotic Fluid, Chorionic Villus Sample, Products of Conception, Blood and Bone marrow samples until further notice.
As we will not be facilitating send out tests, please send your samples to the following laboratories during this suspension period. Please contact them directly for more details regarding their services. Their contact details are listed in the table below:
Laboratory:
Contact Details:
(for Karyotyping)
+65 6394 1395/6
+65 6394 1392
Singapore General Hospital – Cytogenetics Lab
+65 6321 4650
National University Hospital (via NRL)
+65 6777 0349
Facilitation of Existing Send Out Tests to Continue
We will continue to facilitate our existing send out tests (iGene, LabCorp – MaterniT Genome/Plus, Natera -Panorama, Lucence Diagnostics, VCGS - Microarray). If the bundled option for one of the prenatal send out tests is ordered and a confirmatory test is required, we will cover the cost incurred for the send out to another laboratory.
13 April 2020
9 April 2020
Download Lucence Diagnostic's letter here Email from ParkwayHealth Laboratory:
Lucence Diagnostics (Lucence), one of our send out test referral laboratories, has informed that they will be suspending and delaying turnaround time (TAT) for certain test services as they will be deploying COVID-19 testing to assist with the current national situation starting from 13 April 2020 (Monday).
In order to ensure that samples reach Lucence before the suspension of tests, Parkway Laboratory Services cut-off time to receive samples (only applicable for the tests that will be suspended) is by the end of 9 April 2020 (Thursday).
The last day Lucence will be receiving samples for the suspended tests is 11 April 2020 (Saturday), with cut-off time for sample receipt at Lucence's laboratory being 12.00pm. Any samples for the suspended tests received thereafter will be rejected.
The details of Lucence test services that will be suspended or have their TAT delayed temporarily with effect from 13 April 2020 (Monday) are as follows:
Suspended tests
Tests with TAT delayed
They will continue to provide their flagship liquid biopsy tests: LiquidHALLMARK® (TAT unchanged: 8 working days), LiquidMARK™ (TAT unchanged: 8 working days), HemeMARK™ (TAT unchanged: 10 working days) and LiquidSCREEN™ Lung (TAT extended: 2-5 working days).
29 March 2020
Download the full email here
There is a need for the hospital laboratory to determine if processing of the samples is time-sensitive and critical to patient safety as we would prefer if the patient is confirmed negative or has recovered from the Covid-19 infection before the samples are sent to us.
However if the case is urgent and blood has been approved for the patient, we would not hesitate to accept and process the sample. Do also inform us prior to sending the sample.
As for the requirements of packaging, you can follow the MOH guidelines (MOH Circular 17/2020) on the handling of these samples. 3 March 2020
Download the full memo here
In light of the COVID-19 outbreak, the Haematology Laboratory will be making some minor changes to the laboratory tests we offer after considering the safety aspects of the sample handling and processing. The changes below pertain to suspected and confirmed COVID-19 cases only.
We continue to offer the following tests: The service of the following tests will be affected: Note: Please contact A/Prof Tien Sim Leng or Dr Tan Chuen Wen to discuss further if the request is deemed urgent and will significantly influence the clinical management of patients. 11 February 2020
The Molecular Laboratory Section of the Department of Molecular Pathology is currently experiencing very high workload due to the testing of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) (currently offered only to Singapore General Hospital and other SingHealth hospitals). We have also extended our opening hours to accommodate the testing and to provide rapid turnaround for this test. As many of our staff are now working on the 2019-nCoV testing, we regret to inform you that we will need to suspend several tests and make changes to the turnaround times (TAT) of other tests with immediate effect. These are shown in the tables below: A. The following tests will be suspended until further notice: B. The following tests will have changes to their turnaround times until further notice: