Lab staff at GPHC worried about COVID exposure

Medical staff working in the laboratory at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC) are concerned about being exposed to the novel coronavirus disease.
This is as a result of an apparent breakdown in communication between staff of the Emergency Unit and those of other departments, particularly the laboratory, and also because of the lack of adequate PPEs (personal protective equipment).
There are currently several screening points at the GPHC, and persons entering the compound of that institution, including patients, would be first screened before being allowed to proceed further. If a patient turns up with signs or symptoms associated with COVID-19, then they would be transferred to the COVID tent outside the emergency entrance to be swabbed for testing. The treatment and handling of the patient is dependent on the result.
However, some frustrated and worried staff in the Emergency Lab have lamented that they are handling patients and samples from persons without being told whether they are actually COVID or suspected COVID cases.
“I don’t know how the patients keep passing in the screening point without being detected for signs and symptoms. But till when they pass in and reach to the Emergency Unit, the samples are processed and then the nurses would come in for the results of the ‘COVID patient’. There are no warnings before processing the samples that this was a COVID patient,” one of the staff explained to Guyana Times.
She noted that these patients are somehow getting into the Emergency Unit without even being directed to the COVID tent, where they’re supposed to undergo testing.
According to one of the lab staff, this is not the first time such a situation has occurred. However, the latest incident, which occurred on Wednesday, was a pushing point.
It was explained that a patient from Region One (Barima-Waini) came into the Emergency Unit with COVID-like symptoms, and samples were taken from him by lab staff. The man, this newspaper was told, was bleeding through his nose, and was experiencing severe chest pain. However, it was not until the samples were tested and processed in the Emergency Lab that a nurse went in to uplift the results of “a COVID patient”.
“My thing about is that a patient passed that screening point, reached into the Emergency Unit, was among other patients, and we already know that in Region One, the COVID rate is very high there,” the staff posited.
She added, “I understand patient confidentiality, but you’re supposed to give us a heads up. How else would we know to take the samples and run them at the other respective areas that they’re supposed to be run. We’re supposed to run it under a machine (to sanitise and kill the level of bacteria) before we process or do anything, but nobody comes and tells us anything. If it’s a suspected case, it’s safer to do it under the machine, so you would not be contaminated with the sample.”
The worried staff further pointed out that, because the samples are taken from patients within the Emergency Unit and processed right at the Lab there, the samples are not sealed, which exposes the staff more to the virus.
Moreover, concerns have been raised about the safety of other patients in the Emergency Unit, who are there for other health reasons, but are at risk of contradicting the life-threatening disease because of the lack of vigilance at the health facility.
“We also gotta look at the other patients too, because they’re coming in for one thing, and by the time they leave, they could have more complications they’re leaving with,” the staff expressed.
Guyana Times understands that this issue was raised with the Directors of the Departments previously, but nothing has changed.
“This thing keeps happening. It’s not the first time this situation happening…It keeps recurring over and over.”
To this end, the staff are calling for this situation to be changed.
“Something needs to be done, because some of us have kids and families. They’re telling us all samples are to be treated as COVID, but yet they’re not giving us adequate PPE. We’re short on equipment. We’re having two face masks per day, and we don’t have disposable coats. We have to use our cloth coats, and when we take that home to clean…and then tell us we’re supposed to bring our coats. But they’re supposed to be giving us proper PPEs, and they’re not,” the lab staff lamented.
These staff members are being forced to use two face masks to work an entire 12-hour shift daily.
“We’re really worried about the samples that are coming in, and we’re worried about the patients. We’re getting in contact with these patients. I understand we’re supposed to protect ourselves, but they’re supposed to give us the equipment we need to protect ourselves.”
Information regarding local medical staff who have contracted coronavirus on the job has not been revealed by the authorities.
The first known case was 38-year-old former Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) Jermaine Ifill, who died on March 31, 2020 after contracting the disease. His wife, a nurse, was also infected, but she recovered.
There have been reports of other medical staff within the public health system contracting the disease, and there has been at least one case from a private institution who contracted the virus.
Currently, Guyana has a total of 398 confirmed COVID-19 cases, while the death toll is at 20. (G8)