Health official denies losing COVID-19 test sample

THE SOUTHERN Regional Health Authority (SRHA) has denied losing the test sample of a COVID-19 patient who was one of the first Alorica call centre workers confirmed as having the coronavirus disease.

Medical officer of health for Manchester, Dr Nadine Williams, who receives and dispatches all test results for the parish, said yesterday that there has been no misplacement of test results.

“Results are shared with the clients within hours of receipt from the Ministry of Health. There was a delay in testing as a result of the great burden placed on the laboratory system due to the Alorica call centre situation, which has now been alleviated with the new machine up and running at the National Public Health Laboratory,” Williams said in statement issued by the SRHA, which administrates public healthcare in Manchester, Clarendon and St Elizabeth.

But the 19-year-old patient, who was the second positive employee of Alorica – the epicentre of a surge in COVID-19 cases that have reached 471 all told – said yesterday that he was speaking the truth.

“They said that it has been mixed up with the Portmore people. That’s what the lady told me,” the patient, whose identity will not be disclosed because of stigma concerns, told The Gleaner yesterday, referring to a nurse.

The patient, who is being housed at a state isolation facility in Manchester, said that he has had to engage in a third round of exclusionary tests after receiving mixed messages about the reported missing results, claiming he was told later that another assessment suggested he was positive.

“Mi deh yah one month now and mi want to go home. It’s slackness!

“Mi tired fi hear promises!” he said. The 19-year-old has been in state care for three and a half weeks.

COVID-19 patients must produce two consecutive negative results prior to being discharged from a government isolation facility.

Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton announced last night that test backlogs have finally been cleared and that notifications would be dispatched.