COVID-19: Stay away from facilities without protective kits – Laboratory Scientists advised

The Ghana Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists (GAMLs) is advising its members to withdraw from environments where personal protective equipment (PPEs) are unavailable for the discharge of their duties.

There are reports that some major hospitals lack basic personal protective equipment like face masks, sanitizers, and gloves.

The President of the Association, Dr. Ignatius Awinibuno called on the government to adequately resource front line officers.

“A lot of our members lack basic PPE’s and basic sample collection procedures. Its been able two weeks since this outbreak and suspected cases and we have not seen our way clear and the preparedness of the laboratory towards managing the situation. We have a lot of stake in the system now and I think the Minister of Environment in collaborations with the profession can validate and use at our borderline at the borders of Ghana. In situations, infections are very cautious so it is the duty of management to under the labour Act to provide whatever equipment needed and protective equipment that employees need to be able to perform their duties,” he said in an interview.

The Association in a separate statement urged its members to strictly adhere to good laboratory practices.

“All laboratory managers and supervisors must ensure that PPEs are available for use by all staff, most especially when dealing with suspected COVID-19 patients,” the statement added.

GAMLs also called on the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service to facilitate the training of all medical
laboratory scientists at the tertiary, regional and district hospitals to enable them perform their roles effectively.

“Government is encouraged to continue to resource the two testing facilities – the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine and the Noguchi Memorial Institute of Medical Research, to adequately perform testing on suspected COVID-19 patients,” GAMLs added in the statement.

The Association also urged Government to “immediately explore the possibilities of collaborating with researchers at the Universities to at least restructure and resource the Public Health Laboratories, Teaching Hospital Laboratories and selected laboratories at the country’s borders with state-of-the-art portable PCR devices and certified biosafety cabinets to enable them test COVID-19 suspected samples.”

Click here to read the full statement

 

 

Coronavirus confirmed in Ghana

Four more cases of Coronavirus have been confirmed in Ghana.

This brings to six, the total number of cases reported in the country.

This was announced by the government at a press briefing to update citizens on the outbreak of the Novel 2019 (COVID-19) in the country.

The government said three of the cases were recorded in Accra while one other was recorded in the Ashanti Region.

The Director of Public Health at Ghana Health Service, Dr. Badu Sarkodie who provided updates on the country’s cases said the new cases were also imported into the country.

He said two of the cases were confirmed on the 13th of March 2020 while the other two were confirmed on 14th March, 2020.

How to protect yourself

To prevent the spread, the standard recommendations coming from the WHO is regular hand washing, covering one’s mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing, thoroughly cooking meat and eggs.

People are also advised to avoid close contact with anyone showing symptoms of respiratory illness such as coughing and sneezing.

The post COVID-19: Stay away from facilities without protective kits – Laboratory Scientists advised appeared first on Citinewsroom - Comprehensive News in Ghana, Current Affairs, Business News , Headlines, Ghana Sports, Entertainment, Politics, Articles, Opinions, Viral Content.

Read Full Story