The test kits, widely used with small sample size of couple of blood drops and in less than 30 minute get a result, were handed over to the ministry at a ceremony held at the Central Medical Store in Kotu.
The GRCS secured the test kits from ADx foundation Inc., a non-governmental organisation registered in USA and about to register in The Gambia to act as a Community-Based Organisation offering laboratory services, healthcare training services and a drugstore for wellness all under one roof.
Handing over the items, Alasan Senghore, secretary general of The Gambia Red Cross Society, expressed gratitude to the Ministry for its leadership stance in the fight against Covid-19.
He underscored the importance of test kits to be able to successfully fight covid-19, recalling that over the past months they’ve struggled to get test kits before they finally managed to secure some.
The test kits, he said, are used to test covid-19 and within a short space of time, get a result.
Senghore explained further that the Ministry of Health will now review and validate the kits and ‘if it is successful’ and it can be used in The Gambia.
“There will be an opportunity to bring more of them into the country to cut down the testing time for covid-19”.
GRCS SG informed that there are two other types of test kits on the way also to be handed over to the Ministry of Health for review and validation.
“This test kits are the ones used in other countries so that the turnaround time can be reduced to the minimum”, he added.
Dr. Mustapha Bittaye, Director of Health Services at MoH, thanked GRCS for the generosity and therefore called on others to emulate ADx and GRCS for the development of the country.
Babanding Sabally, Director of Pharmaceutical Services at Ministry of Health, said since the declaration of the first positive covid-19 case in The Gambia, the Ministry and the government has done a lot to ensure that the pandemic is contained.
However, Sabally maintained that the government cannot do it all alone, thus the need for partnership to complement government’s efforts in the fight against the pandemic.
