A Deputy Health Minister, Dr. Bernard Okoe Boye, has ruled out any possible mass COVID-19 testing of health professionals despite concerns over the rate spread of the virus.
Speaking to Citi News, he said, “in terms of health economics, it is not the correct way to go.”
The Ghana Medical Association has indicated that over 150 medical doctors have tested positive for COVID-19.
The association suggested that to motivate health personnel to continue with Ghana’s COVID-19 management and treatment the government should see to the testing of medical professionals.
But Dr. Okoe Boye said testing would only be feasible on a targeted basis.
“What we don’t want to do is say that the whole of 37 Military Hospital should be tested because there was a positive case on their surgical ward,” he explained.
Probe into COVID-19 infections among health workers
The Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, said a team of experts constituted to assess the circumstances under which more frontline health workers are being infected by COVID-19 is at work.
He says the findings of the team will enable the Ghana Health Service to find a lasting solution to the problem.
“We are also currently looking at, most importantly, what circumstances are leading to the increased number of doctors and health workers that are getting infected.”
Dr. Kuma-Aboagye also stressed that doctors and managers of the country’s health systems should not be blamed for the rising cases of COVID-19 in the country.
The most recent update from the Ghana Health Service indicated a record 992 new COVID-19 cases in Ghana.
This pushed the country’s case count up to 21,077.
The number of discharges has increased to 16,070 while deaths have jumped to 129.
