Covid-19 test delays reducing healthcare workforce -GMA worries
The Ghana Medical Association has expressed worry over the bureaucracy involved in releasing Covid-19 test results of doctors and patients.
The GMA Deputy General Secretary, Dr Titus Beyos, said the prolonged delays could affect healthcare as medical professionals suspected of contracting coronavirus are kept under isolation.
He was especially worried about the effect of this on the country’s intensive care system.
“We are having unacceptable delays in getting results or reports. We are getting people who are getting up to a week or more [to receive their result]. We are so worried especially, if it applies to healthcare workers and in-patient samples.
“We had doctors who tested positive and were waiting for their second test to see if they are negative so they can resume work. Some waited forever it wasn’t happening. They had to move to other places to be sure that they are now recovered, so they can return to work.
“It is unacceptable. These are very important workforce we need. We are having delays where you suspect a patient has covid, [testing centres] take a sample, we expect that that one will be prioritised. You expect to get the result immediately to take clinical decisions,” he said on Joy FM Super Morning Show Thursday.
The GMA’s concerns come on the heels of reports that most of the country’s testing centres had run out of kits, with only the Noguchi Memorial Centre for Medical Research and the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research still operating.
By May 23, at least 80 healthcare professionals had contracted the deadly coronavirus.
Ghana’s covid-19 case count crossed the 10,000 milestone on Tuesday.
Currently, Ghana’s active doctors population stands at 5,000, according to GMA figures.
Dr Beyuo said the snail pace of the tests could cost the country, as more and more healthcare workers isolate.
“The minute you ask them [doctors] to stay away for 14 days, here and there, you are losing the workforce available to take care of people with other conditions.
“It is unacceptable because we are having a lot of healthcare workers who are being exposed and testing positive,” he said.
In Ghana, a coronavirus patient can only be discharged after testing negative twice.
“Persons at treatment centres waiting for their virus-free confirmation tests are not as dangerous as a doctor testing positive and waiting for test results to confirm his or her status to come back to work.
GMA faults Covid-19 communication strategy
When President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo eased the country’s covid-19 restrictions on May 31, his convictions were that the country’s mortality rates were lower compared to the global average.
Similarly, the number of people getting seriously sick from the disease in Ghana was not as threatening as health authorities had anticipated.
So the President opened churches and mosques but with orders for a maximum of 100 people gathering for worship. The number of people who could gather for private burials was also increased from 25 to 100. But borders remain closed indefinitely.
Those measures and its accompanying government communications, Dr Beyuo said sent a wrong impression to the public that all was well.
“The trajectory of the country’s national communication indicates that not many people are dying, not many people are getting sick, many people are asymptomatic and therefore, life can be normal.
“It may be good to use this communication to buttress our easing of restrictions because globally, nobody can stay under restriction forever. You have to ease it at some point.
“Everything must be balanced because the risk to different people are different. When the disease profile is changing, we should be honest and come back and tell people the same so that people advise themselves. Where we are getting to, people must take personal responsibility,” he said.