COLOMBO – The Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) has decided to withdraw from the technical committees of the Ministry of Health technical committees citing delay in GPS mapping of identified COVID-19 cases in Sri Lanka.
GMOA spokesman Dr. Haritha Aluthge, addressing a media briefing announcing the decision on Wednesday (4), questioned, “Why can’t we publish all identified cases on a single map? We have been discussing this for a month now, but nothing has happened.”
In a letter to the Ministry of Health dated October 9, the GMOA had called for a GPS mapping mechanism to track down COVID-19 patients, noting that Consultant Community Physician of the National Renal Disease Prevention and Research Unit of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Pubudu de Silva, had already informed Sri Lanka’s health authorities of the capacity to conduct GPS mapping of COVID-19 patients within the Colombo Municipal Council area.
Dr. Aluthge told reporters, the GMOA had during a meeting with the Director General of Health Services on Tuesday (3) conveyed their decision, noting there was no point in providing technical assistance to the authorities when there was no cooperation from the Ministry of Health.
“There is no point in our continuing to be in the ministry’s technical committees if the recommendation is not implemented. We have therefore decided to disengage from participating in the committee’s activities,” Dr. Aluthge said, adding the GMOA will arrive at a final decision next week if [the authorities] fail to put a mechanism forward.
Dr. Aluthge said the government’s capacity for PCR testing continues to be a concern. Noting that 8,500 people had tested COVID-19 positive since the October outbreak, he said a majority of cases have been identified in the community rather than at quarantine centres.
“Before the Minuwangoda cluster we had around 3,000 patients. For almost nine months we had around 3,000 and within a month’s period it increased to more than 8,000,” he said urging the health authorities to increase the number of PCR tests to a satisfactory level.
Dr. Aluthge also noted that with Tuesdays confirmed COVID-19 cases, it had been confirmed that cases have spread throughout the country to every district. “Until yesterday we said some areas such as Kilinochchi is free of COVID-19, but yesterday we found a patient there as well,” he said.
With 6,136 active cases in the country, Aluthge said the government should focus on methods to identify patients efficiently to stop community transmission. “This is a very challenging number for the health sector,” he said, urging, “We have to find alternative methods to counter the rapidly increasing number of patients, such as the rapid antigen test. We are in the process of getting it started. We request the government to make it available as soon as it is ready.”
Aluthge also noted that complaints were being made of results being delayed by more than 72 hours.
“Some people call and inform us that their results are delayed for 3-4 days. We ask the authorities to make the results available within 24 hours. If results get delayed for 48 hours, it is difficult for the country to move forward,” he said.
-economynext.com