Board Chair of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr. Bernard Okoe Boye has opined that calls for the mass testing of Ghanaians for Coronavirus must be critically examined.
According to him, the nature of the outbreak is likely to hit hard in the long run when more kits will be needed to diagnose, treat and manage patients who will have tested positive for the virus.
Discussing the subject matter on The Big Issue on Citi TV, he said using the test kits on persons who have not shown major symptoms of the virus should not be encouraged since it will have a corresponding impact on other health issues in the country at an all-time high.
“If you test one million people and get 10 people to be positive, no health economist is going to ask you to do that because of the cost, time, logistics and energy of testing. We are not dealing with one disease in isolation, so there is an opportunity cost. Any quantum and logistics you put into COVID can negatively affect meningitis in the North and maternal mortality and pediatric care in the hospitals. So if you are going to pick 10 COVID cases it is not worth it. So we should wait till they show clinical symptoms and assist in recovery. So even in advanced countries, they are discouraging mass testing because it sucks all your logistics so if we are not careful by the time we get a suspected and confirmed case, your kits would have finished.”
Analysts and groups such as the Association of Health Service Administrators, Ghana (AHSAG) have asked the government to collectivize efforts and begin mass testing of the citizenry to check a further spread of the Coronavirus following the increasing number of reported in the country.
But Dr. Okoe Boye who is the Member of Parliament for Ledzokuku said although testing is needed, he warned against the implementation of such a measure en masse because of Ghana’s low health capacity for the outbreak.
He concluded that it will mean a waste of resources that will deprive those who will be in dire need in the peak of the pandemic.
“So if we have the opportunity, we should increase the margin of testing. Now, we are testing more but not to the general population. So if we test all those who have no travel history, the energy and logistics that will be used will deny those who need real help. So testing is needed but the level of testing should be considered because it’s all about risk. So in all this, one is restrained in testing. There are many in the world, who have COVID but they will not be picked, go through the crowd and will recover. They will not be picked, and they will recover and be in the general population. So the economist will tell you that, if you escalate to the population, you will be wasting energy which could be used for cases and other measures”, he added.
Ghana’s case count
Ghana’s case count for COVID-19 has increased to 152 as of Sunday, March 29, 2020.
This follows the confirmation of 11 new cases by the Ghana Health Service.
Ten (10) of the new cases were among persons who were under mandatory quarantine in Tamale under the direction of the Regional Security Committee of the Northern Region.
The 10 cases involved Guinean residents who travelled through Burkina Faso and Togo to Ghana and were picked following intelligence report.
The eleventh case was recorded in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region.
