Private providers could start conducting COVID-19 tests

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Private healthcare providers could start offering COVID-19 tests to patients that approach them thanks to the procurement of new rapid test kits from China.

Currently, the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) has the sole mandate of conducting COVID-19 tests. It is from here that results are taken to the Ministry of Health. However, this could change with the arrival of kits that offer an option to the widely used Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) being used currently to detect the germ in the nose or throat swabs by the institute.

Even though the number of tests kits currently available are not revealed, the Ministry of Health confirms that they are being evaluated for accuracy. Health Minister Dr Jane Ruth Aceng said these would be made available to the private sector.

Dr Ian Clarke the chairman of the International Medical Group told Uganda Radio Network on Friday that the ministry had already indicated this to them as private providers but said involving them will depend on the number of kits procured because they will need to supply public facilities first.

“At present, the advice of the ministry is to send patients for screening to ward 2A Mulago. However, they still want only patients who are high risk, who have been in contact with travellers, or have travelled themselves”, he writes to URN in an email that if the tests evaluated are found to be accurate then it will make the process of testing easier, with the results being immediate.

But, on Thursday, fellow private provider Dr Peter Kawanguzi the Executive Director of Bugolobi Medical Centre said allowing private clinics to conduct tests of this pandemic is not a good idea. He feared this could create uncalled for hysteria.

He said even if the private sector is finally accepted to conduct tests, the mandate of declaring outcomes should be a preserve of the Ministry of Health.

However, as these innovations in testing are being proposed, there have been calls on especially social media of people being put on hold waiting for long before being tested because the facility at UVRI is overwhelmed. Each test takes 4 to 6 hours to be done and the institute says they conduct about 60 tests each day although they have the capacity of running up to 500 tests with the three machines they currently have in use.

As of today, 18 people have tested positive for the virus in Uganda. 1,184 are under follow up with 811 are under institutional quarantine and 373 under self-quarantine.  1,517 others who have been to high risk countries had completed their 14 days quarantine by today.

******

URN