CMAC trains dogs to detect Covid-19 at CMAC training centre on December 22. HENG RATANA FACEBOOK
Heng Ratana, director-general of the Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC), highlighted his organisation’s success in training dogs to detect the coronavirus after a team of experts used the dogs to identify people suspected of carrying the virus and laboratory tests given to those patients then confirmed the results.
Ratana said on December 22 that he was proud of the progress the dogs had made and that this was the latest phase in CMAC’s research. Detecting people suspected of carrying the virus using dogs and then testing the patients had proven to be of practical use.
“The results were great – we compared it to the results from the lab tests and they were exactly the same,” Ratana said in his Facebook post.
Ratana could not be reached for further comment on December 23. However, he told The Post on October 27 that the dog trainers were meeting with success in their training programme.
He added that Cambodian-trained dogs have top-notch capabilities and could prove useful in the fight against Covid-19, taking about 10-15 seconds to sniff out and identify people with the disease even among crowds with large numbers of people.
He explained that the dogs could be a tool used to detect Covid-19 patients at international gateways like airports or at major sporting matches and other public events.
“The dogs are no different from a PCR [polymerase chain reaction] test or a rapid test in terms of accuracy. The dogs are a tool to single out those who may be infected with Covid-19 and after they are identified they get tested the regular way according to procedures. The dogs are just one more tool to be sued to help health professionals in their work,” he said.
Ministry of Health spokeswoman Or Vandine declined to comment on December 23, saying she had not had a chance to review the information about the CMAC programme.
Svay Rieng provincial health department director Ke Ratha congratulated CMAC on the success, saying that using dogs is cost-effective because they can work for years and that it does not produce medical waste and could contribute significantly to a reduction in the spread of Covid-19 in the right circumstances.
“Dogs used effectively would be good because they don’t cost much money and they get the job done quickly so I think they could contribute to singling out those with infections. And then we can lab test them and confirm they are positive with Covid-19 and treat them the same as any other Covid-19 patient, either at home or in the hospital depending on their case,” he said.
