Ghana's coronavirus testing model criticized

A professor of epidemiology has raised concerns about the kind of testing being undertaken by Ghana in the fight against coronavirus.

Professor Fred Binka said Ghana’s testing model has not changed since the first cases of the viral disease were recorded.

For him, that same type of testing is not what is needed now as cases have surged over 1,000.

Prof Binka made this known when he appeared via Zoom on TV3/3FM’s The Key Points on Saturday, April 25.

He was not happy with the president’s decision to ease the restrictions on movement, saying it could see an upsurge in the number of cases as the data available is not reflective of the current situation and only retrospective.

Since the lifting of the partial lockdown, Ghana has recorded 237 cases of the disease.

These are no new cases, according to the Ghana Health Service (GHS), as the supposedly new ones are said to be from the 18,000 backlogs of tests.

Professor Binka, who is the former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS), said the testing being conducted currently is “good but it is not great”.

“It is not what we are looking for,” he stressed.

He said tests whose results are received at least three days later are for clinicians, treating patients on admission, and not for epidemiologists, who need to study the spread of a virus.

He observed that though President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo assured that testing centres will be opened across the length and breadth of the country, there is a marked departure from what is on the ground.

“The president says one thing but the deployment is different,” he pointed out, stressing: “testing is prerequisite for easing the restriction”.

Ghana’s testing has been commended, despite controversy over the figures, with Noguchi Memorial Institute of Medical Research (NMIMR) hinting of hitting the 100,000 mark soon.