COVID-19: Noguchi Poised To Clear Backlog Of 7,000 Tests

The Noguchi Memorial Institute of Medical Research says it is conducting a COVID-19 testing audit and is hoping to clear a backlog of 7,000 samples it is yet to test.

The facility is one of the principal facilities delivering COVID-19 tests in Ghana

The audit comes at a time when the centre has about 7000 COVID-19 samples to test.

The Ghana Health Service on Thursday, July 2, 2020, attributed the backlog at the various testing facilities to logistical constraints.

In a Citi News interview, the Director of the Centre, Prof. Abraham Kwabena Anang said, the move was to improve its testing capacity and also clear all backlog of tests to be done.

“In order to deliver the usual Noguchi excellence, I have put in place a process audit, a quality audit, and an output audit and also an audit to evaluate the entire process. It is part of quality assurance processes. Our goal is to eliminate any backlog that is there. Completely eliminate it.”

“Like we did previously using the pool testing and managed to contain a situation that many countries didn’t even have the capacity to do, today, we have been proven to be right. Even big countries are adopting pool testing. We have the capacity to deliver excellently. We have to put in place a system to be able to deliver on 4,000 or 5,000 tests a day,” he said.

---citinewsroom