COVID-19: Gov't to provide RDT kits to pharmacies after approval

The Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has  disclosed that government will soon provide Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) kits to pharmacies in the country to enable the continuous testing of coronavirus (COVID-19).
This follows the clearing of backlog of testing by the Noguchi Memorial Institute and Research Center.
Mr Oppong Nkrumah was speaking on Atinka TV’s  “Ghana Nie” on Wednesday, May 6th 2020.
According to him, although the backlog has been cleared, the contact tracing of positive cases will continue.
Touching on the momentum of the testing, he explained that, “The contact tracing was for an initial period. We used about 300 teams because we were chasing about 10,000 people. Now we have traced about 113,000 and the backlog has been cleared and so obviously you do not expect that the same momentum will be used. Now, it is not the contact tracing of that 10,000 but rather, they will continue to do contact tracing of positive cases, which will show that the momentum will be different.”
“The other formula we are introducing now is that, Before we can test, we have to take the samples to the lab, put it in a PCR machine to test whether it is positive or negative.
We want to include RDT test Kits, just like that of malaria,” he said.
The Minister also added that, “The RDT Test kits is being tested and yet to be approved and it will be given to pharmacies. so when you go to the pharmacy and you test, the pharmacist will record it, when it is positive, they will give you a place to sit and if we have to come for you we will do so. The pharmacist will also help us record cases, or if you sell it to people and they go and test positive they might not even say it and so you might not know what is going on.”
Meanwhile, the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) scientists in partnership with Incas Diagnostic, a medical diagnostic development and manufacturing social enterprise have manufactured a revolutionary Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) kit for Covid-19.
The test kit named ‘COVID-19IgG/IgM Rapid Test’  which is said to give results between 15-20 minutes is yet to be approved by the (Food and Drugs Authority )FDA.
Ghana|Atinkaonline.com | Porcia Oforiwaa Ofori