The Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) yesterday said that it had dispatched a letter to Minister of Public Health Volda Lawrence expressing concern about the confidentiality of testing for the coronavirus and quarantine procedures.
Concerns about con fidentiality of test results have arisen following the disclosure that Lawrence and others are receiving these in addition to the medical personnel handling the patient who was tested. It is yet unclear if the results that Lawrence is receiving include the name of the patient or simply a code number. Why Lawrence needs to see the results is unclear.
In its letter to Lawrence on Friday, which was a follow-up to an earlier one, GHRA said that in normal circumstances it understands that approval for medical tests lies with the examining physician or the management team of which s/he is a part. Similarly, test results are sent back directly to the physician or managing team from the lab.
“At no point in the process is personal medical information shared with non-medical staff. This procedure has been varied in two important ways with respect to Covid-19. We understand that now the decision over whether a test should be performed no longer rests with the medical management team and, secondly, that the results of the test are sent directly to yourself, as Minister, rather than to the physician/management team.
“These changes result in personal information becoming available to non-medical decision-makers and constitutes a breach of confidentiality. While you have given assurances that test results getting to the management team are not delayed as a result of the new procedure, the need for this new arrangement has not been adequately explained or justified. A related consideration is that persons presenting themselves for tests have every right to expect the confidentiality of their personal details being respected i.e. only available to relevant medical personnel”, GHRA said.
The GHRA said that the letter addressed the importance of maintaining clear lines of decision-making authority between medical staff and policy-makers.
“While priorities can be set by policy-makers, decisions over the use of scarce equipment and supplies must ultimately be a medical rather than a political responsibility. Inserting a layer of political decision-making into this long-respected arrangement is a recipe for serious dislocation even in normal times. It is particularly hazardous in the midst of a crisis, when the medical community is under the unprecedented stress of Covid-19”, the GHRA said it stated to the minister.
The GHRA said that the letter also raised concerns over the implementation of quarantine procedures which the GHRA believes are not well understood.
“They are perceived as authoritarian, and inclined to create panic and suspicion, an impression created by the inhumane manner in which the early cases were quarantined. It is important that such restrictions be proportionate to needs and applied evenly, reasonably and ultimately under medical rather than security authority. The rules and procedures should also, to the extent possible, be self-evidently justified.”
“Furthermore, strategies employed to confront the pandemic are not immune from the pall of suspicion and uncertainty pervading the national life over the unresolved results of national elections. The manner in which this context will impact on people’s decisions as to where and how to reveal their symptoms must be taken into account. For this reason alone it would be incumbent to ensure that medical and political decision-making paths be as transparent as possible”, the GHRA said it warned in the letter.
It said that it encouraged strategies in which all people feel confident to approach health services.
“The over-all goal is surely to create as conducive an atmosphere as possible, in which potential cases of Covid-19 are not discouraged from revealing their symptoms or presenting for treatment until they are seriously in need of medical care and possibly infecting others. Similarly, it is important that the medical community feel themselves validated by and enjoy the confidence of the political authorities and seen to do so by the population at large”, GHRA said.
The GHRA urged that procedures adopted for Covid-19 “continue to be informed by guidance from WHO/PAHO while also reflecting the realities of life in Guyana at the present time.”
