‘Investigate Noguchi for negligence in COVID-19 testing protocols’

A concerned citizen is appealing to the Ghana Health Service (GHS), to investigate the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research for professional negligence regarding the ongoing COVID-19 testing protocols.

According to the individual (name withheld), he visited the facility on January 30th to test for the COVID-19 virus to be able to travel outside. He returned after 48 hours to collect his test report and was told he could not travel on February 1st because he had tested positive for the virus. He was subsequently asked to go home, despite his positive status.

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I was heartbroken that I tested positive. But I was shocked and angry that an official at the Noguchi testing center, who handed the test report to me, only told me that I could not travel. He did not bother to direct me to wherever I had to go to seek medical advice and quarantine for treatment,” he lamented.

The concerned individual added that the official at the testing center was focused on attending to other clients who had queued to collect their test reports, rather than advise him on what to do next.

The fact that my test result was positive for COVID-19 on January 31 and Noguchi officials did not call to notify me, although they took my contact details, is unthinkable,” he said.

He indicated that he rushed home to begin the process of rebooking to avoid missing his flight four hours to its departure. He added that he has been calling a phone number (0264549306) on the official  test report, since Monday afternoon, to ask that people he possibly might have infected, to be contact-traced, but the calls went unanswered.

This concerned person thinks Noguchi is negligent in following the COVID-19 testing regime and sabotaging the call to “search, trace, and treat” people like him, who have tested positive for the deadly global pandemic.

It’s been three days since I emailed authorities at the Noguchi Memorial Institute after my repeated phone calls on them to be professional. As a concerned and a responsible citizen, I think the public should know about this negligence on the part of Noguchi,” he said.

He regretted that a couple of friends had warned him against going to Noguchi for the COVID-19 test, due to “several allegations of collusion at that facility.” He tested at another facility, (LEDing Medical Laboratory) two days after Noguchi’s, and the current result shows a “negative.”

I am not a medical expert. But the above evidence may confirm the allegations of collusion at Noguchi, where staff members are suspected to be deliberately pronouncing clients positive for COVID-19 and taking bribes from desperate people, who want to travel at all costs, to change their test results to negative,” he noted.

Apart from insisting that Noguchi be investigated, he wants to take a legal action against the institute and Dr. Mildred Adusei-Poku, who signed the test report, for causing him psychological trauma and sabotaging national safety protocols against the spread of the virus. He also wants to sue these parties for causing him financial loss for failing to responsibly notify him of his “so-called” positive COVID-19 status, four hours to his scheduled flight departure.

Source: Businessweekghana.com