Empower Clinics (CBDT.C) Health Canada and FDA authorized at-home saliva COVID-19 RT-PCR (or reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) test went live on the Air Canada website for purchase today, according to a press release.
The test gives travellers on both foreign and domestic flights access to a non-invasive RT-PCR test prior to arriving in Canada, or any other countries with similar travel orders. Given that the alternative is a 14-day wait, or a visit to one of those parking lots inhabited by lab-coated CDC (or Health Canada) officials, who will proceed to stab your nasal cavity with a Q-tip, it’s a good deal.
“Airlines around the world have suffered significant setbacks related to the pandemic with the shutdown of business and leisure travel, and material challenges to their business model including having to lay off many thousands of employees. Using the R&D capabilities of Kai Medical Laboratory, we brought to market in record time a home-based saliva RT-PCR test kit that is ideally suited to support airlines [and] to support Air Canada and its travellers as they navigate the guidelines of the global executive travel orders. We are thrilled to see our offer for Kai Care live and available on their site,” said Steven McAuley, chairman and CEO of Empower Clinics.
Whenever a customer wants to book a flight using the Air Canada website, they can use the option to click a link to a website where they can pick up an RT-PCR Kai saliva test kit. Most countries and airlines require negative COVID-19 test results before they let you on the plane, and travellers are heavily encouraged to order enough kits to use both before you leave and before you come back. Kai Care will provide test kits by UPS overnight courtier in Canada and the United States.
At present, Empower is in discussions with more national airlines towards providing this service.
Empower is a health care company offering telemedicine and in-person care at their 22 clinic locations with leases in various stages of development. The company also has their own medical diagnostics laboratories to do their own lab-work in house instead of outsourcing it.
“I simply want to say that our Canadian health centre development plan has never been in doubt for us from the moment we announced the strategy. Working so closely on a plan with pharmacy organizations takes time to materialize; it requires a collective effort with all constituents, but as everyone now knows, we have not been idle; we have not been complacent; we have been diligent, respectful and focused on building a long-term strategy. I am so impressed with our business development team and their recruitment of 20-plus medical doctors to date that will serve so many communities and neighbourhoods. We seem to be building a collective of health care centres, a collective of medical professionals, [and] a collective of knowledge and expertise focused on the health outcomes of people in the markets we serve,” said McAuley.
The company intends to open primary care plus paramedical health care services in each of its 22 locations, with specific targets being four to six medical doctors and four to six paramedical practitioners in each.
CBDT is down two cents today, and closed at $0.56.
—Joseph Morton
