Only COVID-19 testing facility in Western Region no more functioning

• Posted on July 16, 2020July 17, 2020
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

The Takoradi Veterinary Service Laboratory, the only COVID-19 testing facility in the Western Region is not functioning, www.233times.net can report.

A source at the facility tells www.233times.net that testing for coronavirus since May this year have come to a halt. “The facility has over the past weeks have not been able to run a single test on samples taken from suspected infected persons” the source reveals,

Thousands of samples have been pending for weeks and even to a month. Currently the number of cases awaiting testing stands at 3,734.

Deputy Director of Health in charge of Public Health, Dr. Kofi Asemanyi Mensah has disclosed that the facility have had to transport samples to the Public Health Reference Laboratory in Accra. According to him, the facility lacks the reagents to run the test, hence the piling of samples of suspected cases. He feared that the virus would spread and overwhelm treatment facilities.

“The challenge is that when those pending samples get tested and they are positive, those positive people would have already infected others” he lamented.

“So it is imperative that we resource the lab to test so we get real time data so we can also take the real time actions.” he added.

None availability of isolation centers

The Western Region Health Directorate laments the lack of befitting isolation centers in the region is hampering efforts in managing the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Kofi Asemanyi Mensah disclosed that recommendations by the Western Regional Coordinating Council to district assemblies to prepare isolation centers have not been forthcoming.

He noted that the risk of having a viral spread of the disease is high, and that would stress resources in managing it. Mr. Asemanyi thus entreated Metropolitan Municipal Chief Executives to expedite action on preparing these facilities so they could arrest the situation. Currenlty, the region has recorded a total of 2,218 cases, out of which we have 2,178 patients treated/discharged, and 3 persons have sadly succumbed to the disease.