A PAS lawmaker today urged the government to stop advising the public to conduct Covid-19 saliva self-tests if the accuracy of their results are questionable.

Datuk Che Abdullah Mat Nawi (Tumpat-PAS) argued that it will be financially wasteful for users to conduct tests using the RTK-Ag kits if the results are often inaccurate.

Speaking in Parliament, he said that he personally saw that a self-test kit is unreliable compared to a RT-PCR test.
“I experienced it for myself. I had symptoms for three days, and took the saliva test every morning and evening, but they all gave me negative results,” he said in a supplementary question to Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi today.

“Finally, when I took the PCR test, I was confirmed positive. This is such a waste (of money) for consumers.”

The minister acknowledged that PCR tests are more accurate, opposed to saliva tests, but said he lacked the medical expertise to provide a detailed answer.
“If the saliva test is inaccurate, then it is better that the ministry advise the public not to use it. It’s pointless if it is inaccurate.”

Separately, Nanta said the government is currently studying the need to lower the ceiling prices of self-test kits as well as introduce a price cap on other medical devices such as oximeters and thermometers.

At the moment, the retail ceiling price of self-test kits is set at RM19 while the wholesale price is capped at RM16.

He added that the government sees no need to revise the ceiling price for masks as they are currently sold below the cap of 7 sen per single-ply unit, 20 sen per double-ply unit and 70 sen per triple-ply unit.

Earlier, Nanta said his ministry and the Medical Device Authority (MDA) under the Health Ministry are consistently monitoring to ensure the best quality of self-test kits are in the market.

He added that to date, MDA had already conducted eight raids and 10 seizures on companies that were illegally distributing testing kits.
“This is proof that MDA is carrying out its duty with the ministry to ensure the kits are of good quality,” he said, responding to Cha Kee Chin (Rasah-PH) on the action taken by the government to guarantee the reliability and authenticity of the kits.

Source: Stop suggesting Covid-19 self-tests if inaccurate, PAS MP tells govt

WE GOT A C0V1D POSITIVE PERSON TO TRY 10 RTK SELF TEST KITS… HERE’S HOW MANY FAILED.

Compared to the PCR nasal swabs, rapid self test kits (RTK) are faster, cheaper, and less invasive – leading us to salivate more voluntarily than a candidate in a Pavlov experiment. However, you might also have seen posts from people who tested negative on RTK tests, only to find out that they were actually positive after a PCR.



An increase in these incidents, especially with the new variant, have brought the reliability of RTK tests into question, with our health minister recently instructing the Medical Device Authority (MDA), the agency in charge of approvals of self test kits, to call up suppliers to get quality assurance information from manufacturers.

But with so many brands at even more price points, we were curious as to how well effective they were so we did the most obvious thing: We sent a bunch of RTKs to a reader who was con9firm positive and asked her to spit into each one of them.

We sent Olivia (fake name by request) 10 RTK brands that we bought from various pharmacies and had her use them in one sitting, and following the instructions on each kit. Just to be on the safe side, we also sent her 2 units of each brand because….science. We know you’re itching to see the results, so we’ll leave the explanations and stuff for the end of the article so yea – here are the results

Nasal swab kits
It’s a mixed bag when it comes to nasal swab RTKs – some studies claim that the saliva test should be to go-to, others say there are no significant differences between the two. We sent Olivia Salixium, a saliva/nasal swab hybrid kit and SD Biosensor, an exclusively nasal swab kit.

Read more in the cilisos link...click here!   

to a degree, this is true
malaysian just want to keep going cheaper and cheaper
and then end up it being inaccurate at all

sometime even occue false positive

Actually during the MCO 1.0 MyEG already advertise RTK for less than RM100

then helang bising cause later RTK business is a golden goose for them

then MyEG stopped doing it

The secret is that RTK if bought in thousands per order was less then RM10/unit in 2020

other more developed countries were selling for RM20 and below (after conversion) at their super market in 2021

Malaysia baru play catch up game with the low price after Khairy say he wanna put ceiling price

v-chek is conlanfirm the most useless one....

either no results/ inconclusive results or negative.

the symptom oledi there, ayam go clinic check, confirmed

to a degree, this is true
malaysian just want to keep going cheaper and cheaper
and then end up it being inaccurate at all

sometime even occue false positive

The problem lies in cheaper and inaccurately test kit is MDA approved

Any way PAS case 1 in million because test kit is not 100% accurate anyways 

The problem lies in cheaper and inaccurately test kit is MDA approved

Any way PAS case 1 in million because test kit is not 100% accurate anyways 

PAS case isn't 1 in a millions
happens almost everyday....just that it's not done by MP only

i saw way too many on social media that keep testing ...result is negative...end up PCR is positive
some even did an experiment after they're positive via PCR...a majority of the test kit still indicate negative

the funniest one is a air stewardess...they have to do RTK before flight only can fly
1 day she got to fly australia...test RTK positive
scared AF but asymptomatic...she went and pay RM400 to do rapid PCR test...it was negative

SHE got ripped off big time when BP only charging rm250 

i don't think she had a choice, she is in a rush to report back to the company because flight is very soon
she needs the result in less than 2 hours

what to do?
paid RM400 because got trolled by a cheap test kit

SHE got ripped off big time when BP only charging rm250 

Normal pcr test is about rm250 but need 24 hrs

Perhaps this is the rapid price??

YOU should post entire story here for education awareness 

isn't  the Omicron variant NOT DETECTABLE? what's the point of the self test kits?

which test kit reliable..?

This the so called 100&% detectable rate made by malaysian..sold out online so currently very hard to find it.

Maybe it's affected by storage condition? Most of them need to be stored below 30°c. Our climate exceeds that.

And we buy online, some parcels become really warm when received. Who knows how long they were left in the hot van during transit from delivery hub to recipients. Add in the interstate transit (for outstation buyers)....

true, if follow this argument none of the test kits will be safe from the weather.
Even retail shops units are sent using lorry/expose to weather.. 

i don't think she had a choice, she is in a rush to report back to the company because flight is very soon
she needs the result in less than 2 hours

what to do?
paid RM400 because got trolled by a cheap test kit

And we buy online, some parcels become really warm when received. Who knows how long they were left in the hot van during transit from delivery hub to recipients. Add in the interstate transit (for outstation buyers)....

true, if follow this argument none of the test kits will be safe from the weather.
Even retail shops units are sent using lorry/expose to weather.. 

i thought the fastest PCR Test is 5 hours. never know money can speed up PCR test chemical reaction.

isn't  the Omicron variant NOT DETECTABLE? what's the point of the self test kits?

i thought the fastest PCR Test is 5 hours. never know money can speed up PCR test chemical reaction.

which test kit reliable..?

i thought the fastest PCR Test is 5 hours. never know money can speed up PCR test chemical reaction.

buy expensive ones
if u can afford it or can find it....try abbott...but RM20+

overseas people use abbott can enter country, not required PCR
they have a list of approved test kits...most of which u can't find here

Where to get BinaxNow in Malaysia?

no idea..don't ask me

plus i don't think shops are gonna stock up RM20+ test kit because they know it's a hard sell
almost nobody is gonna buy it
all will go for the RM5.90 and below test kits...even salixium already got people complain expensive...what more abbott test kit
even the one sold in thailand isn't binaxnow but already nearing RM30

Actually it is true, not accurate. House saliva tests all -ve, the moment go clinic to do RTK with nose poking, all turn +ve.

If close contact or exhibit the symptoms, be extra cautious.

For thai price at 230 baht it reasonable compared to others in Thailand 

Malaysia is just because the govt set a ceiling price which causes oversupply and then to fix the problem start a panic buy of test kit to fix the price goes higher 

they actually have cheap ones if u want

abbott for them is also expensive but hongkie of course see the price as cheap

Ask Hongkie come Malaysia test kit as cheap as USD1 which about HKD8 

if the borders are open...no need to quarantine both way
u damn sure that's what they borong back

HK still can travel out no issue

Only when they go back to HK need to h9me quarantine 2 weeks and makes no difference now because they are in lockdown now 

it's actually 3 weeks or 21 days
and their outdoor rules are getting more and more ridiculous

This the so called 100&% detectable rate made by malaysian..sold out online so currently very hard to find it.

where you got this fake info that omicron variant is not detectable?

actually I'm not sure thats why I'm asking. thot I read somewhere that the self test kits can't detect omicron.

If Omicron is so mild, why hospital 7k+ while quarantine centre only 1.6k+?

they actually have cheap ones if u want

abbott for them is also expensive but hongkie of course see the price as cheap

If Omicron is so mild, why hospital 7k+ while quarantine centre only 1.6k+?

If Omicron is so mild, why hospital 7k+ while quarantine centre only 1.6k+?