Gov't must reduce COVID-19 testing fee for Ghanaian returnees - Ablakwa

The Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has called on government to reduce the 150 dollars for COVID-19 test for Ghanaian passengers arriving into the country through the Kotoka International Airport (KIA).

The MP said “most of our returning compatriots have been under a lot of stress and deserve our continuous empathy”.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in his 16th address to the nation on Sunday, August 30, announced the reopening of the Kotoka International Airport for international flights from Tuesday, September 1, 2020.

As part of the stringent measures announced for the safe reopening of the airports, the President said the returnees will have to mandatorily take COVID-19 tests.

Dr. Bernard Okoe-Boye, Deputy Minister of Health, on Monday, August 31, 2020, announced that passengers will pay 150 dollars for the COVID-19 test.

He said the amount was cost-effective considering what passengers paid in other countries.

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But Okudzeto Ablakwa in a Facebook post, stressed that, the price for the COVID-19 tests upon arrival at the airport was a bit high.

 In a Facebook post, he wrote: "I have always advocated some special dispensation for our fellow Ghanaians, particularly in difficult circumstances such as these.

In cushioning Ghanaian returnees he suggested that "another policy option is to have a graduated arrangement where foreigners coming to conduct big business are made to pay a little more to subsidise stressed Ghanaian returnees.

He added that "a policy alternative of this kind would not be new to the aviation industry where price differentials have long existed in visa fees, ticketing cost, lounge rates, etc."

In other related developments, the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has dismissed claims that the COVID-19 testing device used at the Kotoka International Airport was not reliable.

A virologist at the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, Dr Kofi Bonney had in an interview on Accra-based Joy FM  said about half of the test to be conducted at the airport may be inaccurate because the test being conducted was not a PCR test but an antigen test which was less sensitive.

But a statement released Tuesday and signed by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the FDA, Delese Mimi Darko, said Dr Bonney’s claims were “inaccurate and unscientific.” 

It said the testing authorised for detection of the SARS-CoV-2 Virus at KIA was not a rapid diagnostic test kit (RDT) but rather a device which detects the virus in nasopharyrigeal (nasal) swabs.