GEORGE TOWN: Some 800 laboratories in the country are in a bind as they have not been given clearance by the International Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti) to operate during the lockdown.
This means that they are not able to certify and roll out into the market items such as food, medical devices and pharmaceutical products.
Supply of goods to the domestic and international market will also be affected as producers will refrain from putting them on the shelves without valid accreditation.
Malaysian Association Of Accredited Laboratories (PMAM) chairman Louis Ooi said its members had not been able to register via Miti’s Covid-19 Intelligent Management System (CIMS) 3.0 portal since May 30.
“About 95% of our members, involving some 10,000 workers in various laboratories throughout the country, cannot operate as we have not gotten Miti’s approval.
“We submitted the applications on Sunday but we are still waiting for the approval.
“Closure of the laboratories will result in disruption of the testing and calibrating services. This will then affect the supply of goods, food, medical devices, pharmaceutical products and animal feed.
“Without a valid accreditation, all the items are not allowed to be sold. Exports, too, will be halted as all the goods need to meet the international standards requirement.
“About 5% of our members are also involved in the Covid-19 test on food and product packaging to ensure they are safe before being sold in the market, ” he added.
Ooi said PMAM had obtained supporting documents from the Department of Standards Malaysia to certify that the association members were part of the chain of essential services.
“We have submitted supporting documents for our applications, ” added Ooi, who is also Small and Medium Enterprises Association (Samenta) south chairman.
When contacted, a Miti spokesman said the laboratories must apply with the relevant ministries overseeing their sector or industry for approval.
“If they (laboratories) have applied to the overseeing ministry, their applications will be evaluated and approved accordingly by that ministry, ” he said.
He added that Miti was coordinating a one-stop centre involving 18 ministries and agencies.
He said the ministry would only issue approval letters under CIMS 3.0 once the centre got the approval from the respective ministry.
“The CIMS is functioning but a bit of time is needed to ensure only genuine companies are given approval letters to operate and for workers to travel.
“We need to filter since many companies are trying to apply under false pretences, ” the spokesman said.
Under the two-week lockdown which started on June 1, companies are required to apply for new approval letters and for their employees to travel to get to work.
This led to a rush by companies to obtain the approval letters, including some confusion on whether they are categorised among the 17 essential services sectors allowed to operate during the lockdown.
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