By: Roselyn Ganyaglo.
The Minister of Health, Kweku Agyemang Manu, has called for public private partnership in the health sector to expand access to healthcare, while building the capacity of practitioners.
He said the world is in an era of preventive and evidence-based medicine, therefore diagnostics and research play a key role in delivering quality healthcare.
In a speech read for him at the unveiling of Revna Biosciences Laboratory in Accra, Dr. Agyemang Manu indicated that timely detection and diagnosis is key in reducing communicable and non communicable diseases thus precision medicine comes in handy.
“With the establishment of Revna Biosciences, a precision medicine company that uses advanced molecular diagnostic techniques, these clinically important tests and a host of others can be performed right here in Ghana with reports generated relatively quickly, eliminating completely, the long waiting time and affording clinicians the opportunity to initiate prompt treatment for better health outcomes of their patients”.
Dr. Kwaku Agyemang Manu expressed commitment to support Revna to position Ghana strategically on the research and diagnostic platform.
“it is obvious that research underpins the operations at Revna Biosciences, and I am particularly interested in this because I believe translational research has the potential of addressing most of our health challenges as a country”.
Revna Biosciences Laboratory seeks to ensure that patients receive prompt, high quality and advanced molecular diagnostic tests known as precision medicine.
This new approach offers more specific insights about individual medical issues thus minimizing guess work.
Chief Executive Officer of Revna Biosciences, Dr. Derrick Edem Akpalu said technological advancement in the world calls for new ways of treating patients using their genes and other information.
He bemoaned the low diagnostic penetration in Ghana and the sub region. This is why the facility comes at an opportune time.
“Concurrently, in Ghana and across the Sub-Saharan African region, our problem is not only due to lack of adequate research conduct or participation but also that diagnostics penetration is very low. Modern medicine has ensured that disease diagnosis of and by itself is a very useful treasure trove. This is because, particularly in molecular or genomic testing, diagnosis serves to not only inform what is wrong but also typically informs treatment options”.
Dr. Akpalu noted that as precision medicine reduces try and error, it is important for each population group to be adequately represented in order to reap the full benefits.
“Unfortunately, due to several issues ranging from institutional voids, lack of in-step policy updates and historical reasons, people of African descent are often reluctant to fully engage in the clinical development process. If steps are not taken to address this, we run the risk of missing out on the next generation of better and improved medicines and treatment options”.
The Director, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, Prof. Dorothy Yeboah Manu urged research facilities in the country to pull resources together to build a robust health research system. Diagnostics she said plays a key role in healthcare and impacts economies therefore building capacity to detect is a step in the right direction.
“Significant actions are required to capitalize on the advancements in diagnostics established during the COVID-19 pandemic and fill up gaps that still exist”.
Professor Yeboah Manu expressed worry that only 1 percent of primary care facilities in low and middle – income countries have the capacity to perform basic tests.
This means there is no diagnostic tests for about sixty percent of the pathogens identified by the WHO as having the greatest outbreak potential.
She called for a dedicated funding for research in the diagnostic process as she welcomed Revna Biosciences on board the diagnostic journey and pledged Noguchi’s support in all aspects.