Health Ministry clamps down on private labs for fake H1N1 testing

Sep 20, 2009 News

…as 12th case is confirmed

The Ministry of Health is in the process of conducting firsthand inspections at private laboratories that are involved in testing for the H1N1 virus, commonly referred to as ‘Swine Flu.’

At a press conference held yesterday, Minister of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, said that following reports that the private labs are involved in the act, he has written to them, urging that they desist from such practices, since they are not authorised to conduct such testing.

According to Minister Ramsammy, he is not aware that the private sector has developed the capacity to conduct the testing.

“The kind of equipment that is necessary would have to be approved by the Ministry of Health and we are unaware that anybody has applied for such approval and therefore no such approval can be granted. So any private labs that offer to test for H1N1 are fooling people and quite frankly it’s a fraud,” Minister Ramsammy said.

He explained that the only recognised avenue for testing H1N1 is through the National Reference Lab.

While lauding the private sector for making an important contribution towards the health sector in Guyana, Minister Ramsammy noted that what they are doing is not right.

“Every now and then the quest for improvement profitably makes them do things that are not right. So I have taken an approach with the private sector to work with them. Invariably they have worked with us and corrected things.”

Meanwhile, Guyana has recorded its twelfth H1N1 case, out of a total of 120 specimens which were tested.

Kaieteur News had reported on the ninth case of the virus, and according to Minister Ramsammy, over the past few weeks, these three additional cases were confirmed.

He added that three of the twelve persons reside out of Guyana while most of the others have had contact with persons outside of Guyana.

According to Minister Ramsammy, there is little evidence of indigenous circulation of the virus in the country. “However, we are coming to a period when in Guyana, the flu season is rapidly approaching…our flu season corresponds with the flu season in North America and Europe.”

In this regard, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organisation have projected that more than 1 million cases of the virus will emerge in the new season.

“What this means is that we will be under severe threat and so our vigilance has to be maintained.” Ramsammy added that the Health Ministry will now have to improve its testing capacity in order to keep track of the virus.

As it relates to the vaccine against the virus, Minister Ramsammy said that as soon as it is available, Guyana will ensure that it becomes integrated into the Ministry’s immunisation programme.