General Practitioners step up to boost community testing

Talaia Mika

APIA, SAMOA – 29 MARCH 2022: General medical practitioners operating private clinics have stepped up to assist the country in boosting community tests to ward off the rapid increase in community Covid-19 transmission.

Cabinet last week approved the use of general practitioners to assist with Covid-19 tests.

Dean of the Oceania University of Medicine in Samoa and Asia Pacific, Toleafoa Dr. Viali Lameko told Talamua that this a great help in averting the virus from spreading rapidly in the community.

“GPs stepping up to assist the Ministry of Health is such a huge assistance for the country not only to keep people from over-crowding at the hospitals and other testing sites but to locate some hotspots of where the virus is mostly hitting,” he said.

Toleafoa Dr. Lameko Viali.

“At private clinics as well, it’s safer because they have protocols such as one person being allowed in at a time, and when someone is tested positive, they liase with the Ministry in terms of transporting those positive cases under the Ministry’s watch if their conditions are worse.”

As private clinics, the service is not free.

However, Dr. Lameko emphasized that money is not the issue as what’s more important is the assistance to boost the prevention of the community transmission.

“If you have the money, then you can go to the private clinics and if not then just go to the public sites for testing. What’s more important is the availability of these clinics for the public to get tested,” he added.

Last week, the private practitioners identified a number community cases leading to the debate the virus had been in the community for some time

Dr. Lameko said getting tested at the private clinics prevents overcrowding in the testing sites posing the risk of exposure to the virus.

Last week, the Acting Director of Health, Tagaloa Dr. Robert Thomsen urged members of the public not to congregate at the testing sites as it unnecessarily exposes those who have not yet been infected with the virus.

He said that only those who have the flu-like symptoms must go and be tested.