Reckless handling of Covid-19 test samples deplorable

This week’s discovery of Covid-19 test samples at the side of the N2 highway between East London and King William’s Town encapsulates exactly, in one ignoble moment, the struggle of the people of the Eastern Cape. A coterie of government agencies, in association with a private courier company, has comprehensively failed to follow basic, common sense practices for delivering an essential public service. And, when the mind-numbing lapse is exposed, it is virtually impossible to obtain a full, accurate account of how this happened, and what immediate steps will be taken to rectify matters and hold accountable those complicit in the failure.

In usual circumstances, it ought to be a non-negotiable that, long before implementation of a system to test medical samples of the population, all the steps necessary in collecting, handling, analysing, reporting the results, and disposing of the sample, should be subjected to rigorous evaluation.

This is the only way to assess the risks at every point, and to identify and correct shortcomings in the process. Given SA’s historical healthcare proficiency, such approaches are not unusual.

In normal times, we would have had concerns about the manner in which the medical information and specimens of any individual are safeguarded within medical facilities or while transported or transmitted between sites.

In the middle of a global fight against an insidious viral killer, with heightened sensitivities about testing and monitoring of the population, and concerns about maintaining accurately and confidentially all records of infection, any deviation from world-class practice is nothing short of criminal.

The National Health Laboratory Service was perturbed, but not enough to fully disclose all relevant information, including the details of the courier company, exactly where the samples were from and where they were being taken.

We do not know if the kits “fell off” the bakkie in which they were being transported under a canvas cover, as the courier company has suggested, or if they were consciously discarded.

Even if it were true that it was an accident, it immediately begs the question why the test samples were not conveyed under more protected conditions, in a vehicle that was entirely enclosed.

The government has said action against the company will follow. But will any government official be held accountable as well?

In the middle of a global fight against an insidious viral killer any deviation from world-class practice is nothing short of criminal