With the National Public Health Reference Laboratory (NPHRL) now using the Nucleic Acid Extraction System that was recently donated by the Chinese Embassy, the processing of COVID-19 samples is being done in less than an hour.
This was disclosed by Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony, who said during a COVID-19 update yesterday that “we are now able to extract 96 samples within 45 minutes, so our processing time has gone up tremendously. So, we will be able to do more testing in the timeframe we used to do them before.”
He noted that previously COVID-19 test results were available after eight to nine hours as there are several processes.
Last Friday, the Chinese Embassy donated a Nucleic Acid Extraction System and Viral Nucleic Acid Extraction Kits.
Another system has already been procured by the government and should arrive shortly in the country.
Meanwhile, Anthony stated that the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Infectious Disease Hospital at Lilendaal should be fully functional within two to three weeks once all the necessary equipment arrives in Guyana. He explained that the ICU will cater for two categories of COVID-19 patients. “Our expectations are that we will be having 29 beds in that unit, some of which will be for ICU patients and then we will have a section for high dependency patients. So, there are 2 categories of patients that we will house there but the overall unit would have 29 beds,” he clarified.
He noted that COVID-19 patients with mild symptoms of the disease are currently being monitored at the hospital even as the second phase of equipping the hospital to ensure that all sections are functioning is ongoing.
“We are sourcing the equipment to put that in place. There is lots of work that is happening and while we are doing some of the physical work at Ocean View we are also spending resources to acquire the equipment that are necessary. Maybe in two to three weeks we will have everything fully functional but that’s dependent on once these equipment come into Guyana,” he stated.
Presently there are 22 COVID-19 patients at the Infectious Disease Hospital who are being monitored, according to the ministry’s spokesperson, Daniel Singh.
Speaking on the donations the Ministry of Health received in the past few days, Anthony stated nine of the ventilators will be sent to the Georgetown Public Hospital while the remainder will be distributed to each regional hospital in the country.
