The government is investigating claims a large number of lateral flow tests were dumped at the Eastern Civic Amenity Site.
Facebook user Chris Rushby-Smith recently shared a photo which showed bin bags full of lateral flow tests at the Douglas site.
Mr Rushby-Smith estimated the bags contained several hundred of the FlowFlex lateral flow devices.
He said: ’Just seen in skip at amenity site in Douglas.
.jpg?width=209&height=140&crop=209:145,smart&quality=75)
’About 10 black bin bags full of unused LFT tests, hundreds if not a thousand or more?’
The government told the Isle of Man Examiner that an investigation had been launched and was still ongoing.
No further information could be given at this time.
Meanwhile, new figures obtained from Manx Care show that more than £1.7 million has been spent on lateral flow testing as a whole in the island.
information
The numbers were released as a result of a Freedom of Information request submitted by advocate Ian Kermode.
The response revealed that the total overall cost to the Manx taxpayer of lateral flow testing up to September 30, 2021 - taking into account the purchase cost of the devices, transportation to the island, distribution and any other associated costs - amounted to £1,791,400.
This includes £1,681,645 for purchase cost of kits, £14,236 for transportation and £95,519 for distribution.
Up until the end of September, 568,842 tests had been distributed to Isle of Man residents with a further 107,258 in stock in Manx Care stores (as of October 4).
The Freedom of Informaiotn response also revealed the cost to the government for each individual test.
Of the total 676,100 tests covered in the data, 84,000 were bought at a cost of £2.75 per test.
A further 592,100 tests were purchased at the slightly cheaper price of £2.45 per test.
On the whole, the overall cost of lateral flow testing is significantly less than that of PCR testing.
In Jersey, widespread lateral flow testing is only being introduced this week.
There, PCR testing is more common, whilst LFTs are mostly used in the school setting.
Therefore data for the amount spent on LFTs is not available.
However since April 2020, the government there has spent over £44.5 million on PCR tests (according to figures available online until August 2021).
Last week, Rushen MHK Dr Michelle Haywood called for LFT testing to become the standard form of testing on the island.
She argued that: ’I think there are some circumstances where requiring a PCR test is just double testing for the sake of it.’
Chief Minister Alfred Cannan shot down the notion, arguing that whilst there may be short term savings in moving away from PCR testing, an ’important number of control measures’ would be lost.
He did not rule out a change of approach in the future.