All public laboratories testing for COVID-19 have been directed by the Ministry of Health (MOH) to charge travelers for their service and rather render free-of-charge service to walk-ins.
The directive which is contained in a press statement and dated January 27, 2021 asked that the laboratories do not to charge residents in Ghana for COVID-19 testing.
The statement pointed out that the Ministry has decided that public COVID-19 testing laboratories providing walk-in services can charge only travelers for testing and not residents in Ghana.
The statement continued “all other walk-in requests such as ill-health, contact tracing and exposure must be done free-of-charge using public health resources.” The ministry’s directive follows concerns by some Ghanaians over the cost of and access to testing amid a surge in COVID-19 cases in Ghana over the last few weeks.
A cross section of Ghanaians have earlier on express their views on persons who are able to test and question the timelines for the delivery of such test results. In a response, the Ghana Health Services noted that test results carried out by laboratories under their control should be ready within 48 hours.
Speaking to the issue, the Director of Ghana Health Service, Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye noted that the average turnaround time for COVID-19 test results was 48 hours; something some Ghanaians discounted and indicated otherwise.
The country’s recent surge in infections has witnessed 616 new cases move Ghana up to 3,813 active cases from 1,330 cases on January 8.
The GHS has pointed out that it has recorded 377 deaths from the virus out of 62,751 confirmed cases whilst 58,561 persons have recovered or have been discharged after infections.
The virus which was first detected in the Ghana’s capital, Accra has now been registered in all 16 regions. The Greater Accra, Ashanti, Western, Eastern, and Central regions are leading with the highest rate of infections.
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