“Calibration of medical equipment critical to human health” – GSA

By Emmanuel Gamson, GNA

Tamale, Oct. 15, GNA – The Northern Regional Office of the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) has expressed worry at the failure of some health facilities to calibrate their medical equipment to standard.

Mr James Wanaba, the Northern Regional Manager of the GSA, who expressed the concern in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Tamale, said non-calibration of clinical equipment gave wrong results of diagnoses, leading to wrong administration and treatment, which posed health risks to patients.

He cited situations, where patients who did not have malaria parasites in them were given malaria positive results, and those who had nothing worrying their liver or had liver problems were given positive or contrary results, including; providing wrong results for other ailments, as result of non-calibrated medical equipment, which in some instances led to wrong prescriptions.

He said “diagnoses are made based on the results of measurements and tests run on a patient with medical equipment, and if the equipment gives inaccurate results, the diagnoses and medical prescription will also be wrong”.

“That will have a negative impact on the patient as result of wrong diagnoses, and the patient will not be given the right treatment option”, he added.

Mr Wanaba said calibration of medical equipment reposed confidence in the results of measurements by the equipment, and urged all health facilities to get their medical equipment calibrated to ensure quality health care delivery in the region.

He indicated that the Weights and Measures Act,1975 (NRCD 326) and the Standards Authority Act,1973 (NRCD173) mandated the Authority to ensure that all medical equipment used in health facilities were calibrated to guarantee accurate results for quality health care for all.

According to him, as part of efforts to ensure quality health care in the northern region, the Authority supervised the calibration of medical equipment in the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) Hospital and the Kabsad Scientific Hospital in the Tamale Metropolis.

He gave the assurance that other health centres in the Northern, Savannah and North-East regions would be supervised to calibrate their medical equipment to improve on the health status of residents in the region.

GNA

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