Authorities at Ridge Hospital also known as the Greater Accra Regional Hospital are worried at the rate at which Ghanaians who returned from other countries constantly visit the facility to test for coronavirus.
The hospital says the demand is putting a strain on its finances.
The test for the coronavirus is very expensive but the authorities say people who returned to the country and showed slight signs of sickness visit the facility to demand test.
READ ALSO: Reported Coronavirus case in Korle-bu confirmed negative – Dr. Sarkodie
Chief Executive Officer of the Greater Accra Regional Hospital Dr Emmanuel Srefenyo says most of the cases that were reported did not fit into the symptoms put out by the Ghana Health Service.
“So many travellers come and start panicking when they show signs of illness, they come for a voluntary test, we have been advised to go strictly by the case definition of the virus. You need to have a fever, must have travelled outside to countries affected, respiratory difficulty, sneezing. Most come here, they have no cough, no high temperature but start panicking and demand for test, the test is expensive so before you are tested we must make sure you fit the case definition. We have had to send a lot of people home because their case did not fit,” he told Joy News
On March 6th 2020 Ghana reported another suspected case of coronavirus.
Blood samples from the suspect were sent to the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR) for a test but that turned out negative.
So far all the 34 suspected cases in Ghana that have all tested negative.
President Akufo-Addo has disclosed that the government is discouraging flight and sea travels from countries with a high number of coronavirus cases.
READ ALSO: Ghana discouraging travels from coronavirus prone countries – Prez. Akufo-Addo
The President speaking at the 63rd independence day celebration at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi said measures have been put in place to prevent the virus from entering Ghana and one of such measures is the discouraging of travels from countries most affected.