Chikungunya virus...Guyana has testing facilities but lacks trained personnel

Chikungunya virus…Guyana has testing facilities but lacks trained personnel – Health Minister

Jun 20, 2014 News

Since the Chikungunya virus reached these shores a few weeks ago, the Ministry of Health has been relying exclusively

Health Minister
Dr Bheri Ramsaran

on the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) laboratory in Trinidad to ascertain the status of suspected cases.
According to Minister of Health, Dr. Bheri Ramsaran, just over 200 blood samples taken from persons exhibiting symptoms of the virus have been sent to CARPHA for testing.
Symptoms include high fever, joint and muscle pains, headaches, skin rash and nausea.
This publication was told that the entire turnaround process to get the samples tested takes about five days before the Health Ministry is in possession of confirmatory results.
Initial reports had suggested that Guyana has been dependent on the Trinidad laboratory because it lacks the facility to conduct tests for the virus, which is transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito.
But Minister Ramsaran says that Guyana has all the necessary equipment in place at the National Reference Laboratory, which was established a number of years ago to be a Centre of Excellence, intended to improve the country’s capacity in the area of clinical lab testing and specialised reference testing. However, a crucial factor missing and thereby hindering the utilisation of the local laboratory to test for the virus is that of trained personnel.
Moreover, the Health Minister has belatedly started putting measures in place for Guyana to test for the virus. This is in spite of his disclosure that his Ministry was since last year, preparing to deal with the virus as it was already present in the Caribbean.
According to him during an interview with this publication, “I knew, and I was being advised again that we have all the materials, prerequisites…except the training.”
He also disclosed that “I have instructed the head of my National Reference Laboratory to give me an analysis on the status of our competencies, capacity and skills to do the (Chikungunya virus) tests here.”
As part of the efforts to get things in order, Dr. Ramsaran said that he has officially approached the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) which has signalled its willingness to support the local training need.
“They have indicated that they can probably look to people to come and do training. So we would probably not have to send the samples out and the reports will come in more frequently.”

The National Reference Laboratory is said to have the necessary equipment for testing.

However, the Minister was in no position to share a timeline with this publication by which training is expected to be completed, thereby allowing for the health sector to take full advantage of the National Reference Laboratory.
Dr. Ramsaran has indicated that a total of 19 cases have thus far been confirmed by CARPHA. He has even insisted that all of these cases originated in sections of Berbice. However, reliable information reaching this publication is that at least two of the cases have not been linked to Berbice, a notion that the Health Minister has categorically debunked.
The Minister informed that at least the case of an infected resident of West Ruimveldt, Georgetown, has been classified as an “imported” case from Berbice. The Minister’s argument is that the infected 28-year-old man “most likely” had interactions in an affected section of Berbice and returned to the city with the virus in his system.
Dr. Ramsaran has however, not divulged any information about another out-of-Berbice case but rather has insisted that “our epidemiological surveys have not shown any other cases outside of Berbice.”
The Ministry has thus far acknowledged that cases of the virus have been confirmed in Canje, New Amsterdam and Port Mourant, all sections of Berbice, Region Six.

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News