NEOC official spokesperson Mohamed Mabrouk Azeez concedes for the first time that Health Protection Agency HPA has a backlog of cases.
Mabrouk acknowledged the backlog amid the reports that HPA has failed to communicate with direct contacts of current Covid-19 cases even after they lodged complaints against the agency.
Speaking to the media, Mabrouk said it is evident from sample data read on the briefings that there is a lot of pending samples. Mabrouk said officials are now working to acquire a new testing machine to handle the sample load. He said NEOC is trying to attend to the unanswered queries that have reported as direct contacts of positive cases.
Speaking on the matter, HPA’s Medical Officer Dr. Fathimath Nazla Rafeeq said there was a delay in informing negative results back to the patients. She said NEOC was working to fine tune this system to avoid such delays.
Many have turned to social media to vent their frustrations at HPA having raised their concerns of being in close contact with positive cases but left unattended by the Agency.
