Govt procures new testing machines to tackle COVID-19 backlog cases

…30 new medical technologists by next week

Guyana’s COVID-19 testing capability is set to significantly improve with the acquisition of two new automatic PCR testing machines, according to President Dr Irfaan Ali.
He made the announcement during an address to the nation on Wednesday where he spoke about the country’s response to the pandemic. The President related that there is currently a backlog of over 700 COVID-19 tests owing to the fact the PCR testing machine is manual and the lack of medical technologists.
“Testing has moved from a position of 40-60 per day to 96-140 per day. Notwithstanding a significant improvement, there is a backlog of 700 test results. This is as a result of the manual PCR machines currently used and also the lack of medical technologists…2 new automatic machines would be sourced to cut testing turnaround time from 9 hours to 2 hours. This will not only clear the backlog but significantly improve our capacity to do mass testing which will become necessary in the eventual opening up of our country and economy,” the President stated.
He said that his Government has been and will continue to work at implementing an approach that brings together all the stakeholders with the objective of ensuring the multifaceted aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic. He added that they are committed to delivering relief to the already strained healthcare system and its workers.
President Ali has indicated that Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony has been working on a number of interventions to improve test turnaround time, testing capability, human resource ability, infrastructure and equipment. The Government, according to the President, has been able to increase the number of N95 masks from 10,000 to over 65,000 since it took office about two weeks ago. Another 25,000 N95 masks are expected to arrive in the country shortly.
The President related that when the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) took office on August 2, there was just one medical technologist on staff but by the end of this week, there would be an additional 30 persons trained. They are from both the public and private sectors.
“Additionally, we currently have 4 working ventilators at the Georgetown Public Hospital. By next week, 29 additional ventilators would be in the country to be utilised not only at Georgetown Public Hospital but in all the regions of our country. The Ministry also advised that additional healthcare workers including doctors have been deployed to hotspot areas in Regions Seven and Nine,” the President stated.
Just Tuesday, Director of the Georgetown Public Hospital’s medical laboratory, Dr Pheona Mohamed-Rambaran said with the recent intensification of testing countrywide, by the Health Ministry, more test samples are being processed.
“Based on what we are seeing, there are a lot more samples being taken; on average, we will get between 200-300 samples daily. However, our laboratory’s capacity currently is only able to test maybe a maximum of 140, so there is always that backlog of samples waiting to be tested,” she was quoted as saying.
Dr Mohamed-Rambaran explained that one crucial way of addressing the backlog is to train more staff. She said that the Ministry, in collaboration with PAHO/WHO, has begun training more medical laboratory technologists. (G2)