Akatsi: GHS refutes allegation of wrong COVID-19 diagnosis

The Akatsi South Directorate of the Ghana Health Service in the Volta region has denied any wrongdoing in the case involving a 26-year-old man who was said to have tested positive for the deadly novel coronavirus on May 14, 2020.

The victim, Wonder Ameza who is now contemplating legal action against the health directorate claims that all subsequent tests conducted on him while in isolation in Ho proved negative.

But according to the District Director of Health, Dr George Nyarko, the directorate did no wrong but only acted on the results as received from the UHAS COVID-19 testing centre.

Dr Nyarko also noted that claims that no contact tracing was done following the confirmation were false.

Recounting the incident, Mr Ameza said, “On Thursday 14 May 2020 at around 2 pm I went to a pharmacy to buy medicine I have been using to manage myself since I am an asthma patient but the pharmacist asked me to go for the prescription at the hospital before I return for the drug and I obliged.

During interrogation and screening at the hospital, I informed the team that I was having difficulty in breathing, as I am an asthmatic patient.”

After the interrogation, Mr Ameza noted that he was informed that he was suspected of Covid-19 and was asked to leave his address and contact details, while he was handed a bottle for a specimen of his saliva and was asked to go home.



He said, “the next day, they came to my house for the specimen and asked me to prepare myself to be taken to the isolation centre as they await the test result.”

He noted that on Saturday, May 16, he was informed that an ambulance was coming to pick him to the isolation centre but didn’t hear from them.

He recalled that “on Sunday, I called to find out why the ambulance didn’t come and I was told it was involved in an accident, while they advised me not to go out because they had announced on the radio that I was already taken away.

On Monday, “they gave me three balls of kenkey and Gh¢5.00 and asked me to stay home while they called another ambulance. But on my return from my family house at about 5 pm, I met one of the men in town who asked the motor rider to take me to the Akatsi district hospital while he followed,” adding that, “all along, I was moving freely in the town.”

Though the victim was transported to Ho in the bucket of a pick-up vehicle that evening, he told Starr News that he was not attended to until the 3rd day.

“I was not attended to until the 3rd day when I complained of chest pain. It was then that they took my specimen for testing, which came out negative.”

He added, however, that he was asked to stay at the centre for two more weeks while he was administered paracetamol and Citro C.

According to him, a second test conducted on him turned negative and so, he was discharged with two others same day.

Mr Ameza said he was conveyed by the same pick-up to join his family on Sunday 31 May 2020 while indicating his displeasure at how his case was treated.

“I was taken back home on Sunday 31 May, to join my family without any prior orientation, no contact tracing or even a fumigation exercise,” he said.

While disputing all claims about testing positive, he indicated that he was is considering legal action against the authorities for putting him through public ridicule.

“I was not quarantined in my family house as published, neither was I working with a German. I do not doubt the existence of Covid-19 but the declaration of the confirmed case in Akatsi South and me, in particular, is false.”

He emphasized that “while I go through the stigmatization due to the unprofessional manner my case was handled, I am seeking legal advice.”

Source: Starrfm.com.gh