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Exactly 10 days ago I went to do the Covid test in London. Earlier today, I went for another test in Abuja.
As a country, we must embrace technology!
As a country, we must embrace technology!
In England all I did was to go to the NHS website to make reservation, it showed available days and time slots. The information needed was basic. Name, phone number/email, date of birth and whether or not you have symptoms. The reservation takes 5mins, then you get a barcode.
The options were either drive through or walk-in, I opted for walk in the next day. When I got there there was only one person ahead of me and another person also came before I finished. There was a barrier between me and the lady that gave me the kit.
She threw the kit through a small opening in the barrier and acaned my barcode There were instructions on the kit then she showed me where to sit. There was another person on standby outside her cubicle Incase one doesn’t understand the instructions.
It took me exactly 7 mins to read and do the test myself. I sealed the package and went to another cubicle to drop. Again through a barrier another person showed me where to drop and he scanned my barcode again. I totally I spent 9 mins there. 24hrs I got an email of my result.
Now back to Abuja, at arrival we were told to go for another test today at 9am. All of us. About 260 passengers! I didn’t go at 9am, I went at 3pm, but there were more than 50 passengers. I was told many people already left and took the option of coming back on Monday.
I spent 3hrs there even though the test only took 5 mins. But the presses of filling 4 forms and meeting another staff to enter the same information you provided on the forms into a computer took about 3hrs because there were about 50 people ahead of me.
First the forms weee not necessary because the same information provided was entered into the computer. Second, we could have provided the same details ourselves through pre-registration online before getting there.
I met people that have been there since 9am. They spent about 8 /9 hrs in a place packed with passengers with some probably having the virus, since the main essence of doing the test again is to be sure everyone is safe.
With the use of technology, we would have save everyone from that risk, both presenters and the staff taking the details. We would have saved money by not printing the forms. We would have saved time because sample collection only takes 5mins. They allowed numbers to us...
The last number called around 5.30 pm was 190. 190 people were tested in 9hrs, 9am to 6pm because of the long avoidable process.
Now imagine how many people would have been tested in 9hrs with an average of 5mins her sample collection If we had done the reg online..Money saved. Risk reduced. Time drastically reduced. More efficiency.
We must embrace technology!
We must embrace technology!
