New coronavirus testing labs redundant with no reagents

Kampala, Uganda |  THE INDEPENDENT |  The newly launched laboratories to test for the Coronavirus (COVID-19) in different parts of the country, at the border points and in Kampala cannot conduct as many tests as promised because of lack of reagents, the Ministry of Health revealed on Tuesday. 

While they had promised weeks ago that up to 10,000 samples would be tested, the daily results released by the Ministry of Health show the samples tested to range between 1000 and 2500 just as has been. Only last Thursday for the first time there was a recorded 2729 cases tested, a number that can be done by Uganda Virus Research Institute alone. 

When this was put to Health Minister Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng, she said some of the labs including the mobile ones at the border of Uganda and Kenya in Malaba and the one on the border of Uganda with South Sudan at Elegu have not yet started tests even as everything is intact. She said they are awaiting for reagents.

She revealed that as Uganda, there’s nothing that can be done now since the lack of reagents is a global challenge whereby even the orders are reviewed by an established global consortium to assess each countries need. 

Commenting about the same, the Permanent secretary Dr. Diana Atwiine told Uganda Radio Network (URN) that currently most of the samples are mainly tested from the Uganda Virus Research Institute and the National Public Health Laboratories in Butabika.

She said if they had test kits, they would be testing more samples, although she notes that in the near future the number of daily tests could even go further down.   

However, On May 14th, the Ministry of Health announced that they had added seven more laboratories to Uganda Virus Research Institute. A day later, the laboratory at Mutukula border was also launched and some tests were conducted on the spot using the two Genexpert machines installed at the border.  

Other labs that were accredited but remain largely redundant include Makerere University’s department of microbiology and immunology, the Infectious Disease Research Collaboration in Tororo district, the Uganda Virus Research Institute Plague Laboratory in Arua district, Gulu University, Rakai Health Sciences Laboratory and the Fort Portal Regional Referral Hospital laboratory.

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URN

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