Psychologically or physically, the nasopharyngeal test for Covid-19 is feared. The swab, about 145 mm long, is introduced into the nostril up to its half ... Since the start of the health crisis, millions of units have been used creating a shortage. In the Orne, the Lemoine laboratory, which specializes in the manufacture of cotton-based care and hygiene products (make-up disks and cotton swabs), received an order for 1.5 million pieces "to meet the complete absence of swabs in France ”. To guarantee sterilization, and therefore health security, he joined forces in this production race with the company Steriservices, co-founded in 2001 by the ex-pharmacist Patrick Montenoise, in Bernay in the Eure region.
A great experience
The 69 employees of Steriservices "sterilize and package medical equipment for around a hundred customers, including large multinationals," says Patrick Montenoise. We put in syringes, needles, piercing or embolectomy catheters. From different factories around the world, the products arrive in bulk, are packed in sterile rooms, then pass through autoclaves. The Euroise company thus sees leaving its premises more than 15,000 pallets per year. It is this great experience that convinced the Lemoine laboratory.
Thus, after three weeks of approval procedures, Steriservices, whose access is prohibited to persons outside the company, “today handles 30,000 swabs per day. We started at 5,000 and will have to climb to 40,000, details Patrick Montenoise. For this, I created a special cell with 14 hires, mainly students on fixed-term contracts. There is internal training. It is just in tune because every day, a truck leaves for the Orne before distribution to hospitals, laboratories, army services, etc. Then, for us, it doesn't change anything in our profession. These are the same procedures. It's only the deadlines that put us under some pressure. "
The manager of Steriservices hopes that there is a future for the French swab and that orders will continue, "because for the moment, we do not see much of the effects of President Macron's statements on the number of tests in the different deconfinement phases ".