The Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) has set up a five-member committee to investigate claims that some blood from its blood bank was contaminated.
Reports first emerged from social media suggesting that the blood was issued to a patient of a private clinic.
[contextly_sidebar id=”BEpXu4OtMkdgWowPaHPsZO12u1yv6o6s”]Two different blood bags from the hospital were said to have tested positive for HIV and Syphilis, according to one Adolf Addo Kwabla, whose mother was set to be issued the blood.
He told Citi News his mother had been sick for some months, and the family had sought treatment at a private facility in Kumasi called the Kean Health Center.
Without going into details, Adolf Addo said ahead of one of his mother’s appointments at the health centre, she was asked to bring along some blood.
When the blood was brought along on the day of the appointment, “they took the blood and said they were doing tests. We sat waiting and later a lady came and told us the blood we had was contaminated; both of them. One had HIV and other had Syphilis,” Adolf Addo recounted.
KATH, in a statement following the claims, said it has “a track record of stringent blood testing protocols and maintains the highest standards for blood safety.”
But it is still going ahead with the investigation to establish the veracity of the claims.
The committee will include reps from the National Public Health Reference Laboratory, the Police Service, the Food and Drugs Authority, and the National Aids Control Programme.
This is to “guarantee an independent investigation,” the statement added.
Despite this probe, KATH has urged the public to treat the reports with a grain of salt.
“It must be stressed that the allegations under reference is only based on alleged screening test done on the blood at a private clinic and not on confirmatory tests as required under the protocol for handling such cases.”
The Hospital has also urged the patient in question to release the alleged contaminated blood to the investigative committee “for further confirmatory tests in line with established protocols.”
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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa | citinewsroom.com | Ghana
Follow @delalibessa
