The Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) will this month begin Covid-19 testing at its own health facilities, GM of the Health Services Department of the GPHA, Dr Vitus Victor Anaab-Bisi has revealed.
It’s part of an initiative to bolster the Authority’s resources to prevent the importation and spread of the virus and also help reduce the burden on the already overstretched testing centres in the country.
Speaking on the maritime programme Eye on Port, he said the decision had been motivated by the overwhelming number of positive cases recorded within the Authority’s health facilities as well as nationwide.
The idea is to deploy testing systems similar to those being used at the airport to control movement in and out of the country in order to monitor crew change activities for vessels that enter and leave Ghana’s ports.
The first line of defence will be an antigen test – followed by a PCR test if necessary.
Quoted in a report on the GPHA website, he said testing at its own facilities “would mitigate the problem of lagging results experienced since the pandemic intensified within the country”.
