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H1N1 testing hits a snag
By Fareeza Haniff
While Guyana has already acquired the equipment to test for the H1N1 virus, the testing will not commence until December because the facilitators for the training programme of the personnel to operate the equipment did not show up to conduct the training.
The H1N1 testing equipment at the National Reference Laboratory.
This is according to Minister of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, who at a press conference yesterday revealed that the situation has now been rectified as the Health Ministry, the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC) and the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) have sourced an expert from Washington to conduct the training.
In the event that this expert does not turn up, an alternative arrangement has been arranged, Dr. Ramsammy said. In this instance, a health officer from the public health laboratory in South Africa will replace the one from Washington if he/she decides to no longer facilitate the training.
“So I’m putting in dual track arrangement to have the training done. We in Guyana are absolutely determined to have everyone tested in Guyana and to be tested at our own public health lab,” Minister Ramsammy told reporters.
He added that the National Public Health Reference Lab in Guyana has entered into a proficiency testing arrangement with the US CDC, where there will be continuous quality assurance.
Meanwhile, H1N1 testing at the public health facilities continues to be free, but according to the Health Minister, the Ministry will have to determine how they will treat the private health institutions that continue to get their specimens tested free of cost.
However, when the testing commences at the National Reference Laboratory, the private health facilities will be charged a fee, as according to Minister Ramsammy, there will be an avalanche of request from the private health institutions.
“Once the equipment is running and there is real time test, people might send all flu patients to be tested and that will be an expensive thing for us so we will establish strict criteria by which the private sector could send for H1N1 testing.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Ramsammy reiterated that as soon as the doctors suspect a person is infected with the virus, they are placed on treatment, since the Ministry does not await confirmation on this. The process of confirmation he noted is a rather long process, since CAREC only accepts six specimens to be tested at one time. There are 17 confirmed cases so far, while a total of 140 specimens have been sent for testing. At this point in time, the virus remains to be a controllable in Guyana.
Currently, the Health Ministry is waiting on the results of more than 20 specimens from CAREC.
Although Guyana will have the capacity to test for the virus, Minister Ramsammy said the specimens will also still be tested in Trinidad and Tobago for a short period of time, in order to verify the accuracy.
Recently, the Ministry of Health sourced $8 million from its partners to establish the capacity to conduct the H1N1 testing in Guyana instead of sending its specimens overseas.
It was noted that the money was not sourced from regular budget of the Health Ministry and the government was not asked for assistance in sourcing the money.
Upon the emergence of the virus, the Inter American Development Bank (IDB) gave a sum of money to the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) to help the region respond to the H1N1 virus.
From that sum of money, Guyana is benefiting in a number of ways, including the expansion of their DNA testing capacity and now the capability to test for the virus.
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