Medical practitioners voice concerns over new protocols

Barbados’ core of medical doctors is waving a red flag about the island’s new COVID-19 protocols that go into effect tomorrow, warning that up to 13 per cent of possible COVID-19 positive travellers, could slip through the system.

In a statement posted on its Facebook page, the Barbados Association of Medical Practitioners (BAMP) said the amended protocols that target persons from Medium and High Risk countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and several South American and European countries, would likely spend only two days in quarantine after arrival in Barbados with a negative PCR COVID-19 test result.

The five-day period before the second COVID-19 test, includes the days after the traveller took the test in his or her home country.

“The current protocol states that travellers from high risk countries will be allowed to leave quarantine on the basis of a negative test done 4-5 days after the last negative test result.

“This would imply that a high-risk person who tested 72 hours before travel, who presents an acceptable negative test result on arrival, would be able to be tested again and leave quarantine in as little as one to two days after arrival in Barbados.

“Based on a review of the available evidence, including the possibility of false negative testing, such an approach will fail to detect and quarantine at [least] 9 – 33 per cent of travellers who contract COVID-19 between their initial test and arrival in Barbados.”

According to members of the local medical fraternity: “We also express concern about the availability of human and physical resources. A volume of high-risk travellers from these countries will necessitate a significant increase in the testing resources and in monitoring the symptoms, those in quarantine, those in isolation facilities and those in self-isolation at approved facilities.

“Just 3 000 passengers a week would cost us an estimated $1 – 2 million in testing supplies alone. We are aware that technology will be used for much of the monitoring and that geo-fencing will be employed, however, there is still an additional human resource element that must support this.”

Moreover, BAMP has expressed concern that travellers were now being asked to arrange their own second test either through a public facility by calling the COVID-19 hotline or privately.

As a result, local doctors are calling on Government to adjust the protocols so that all persons from high risk countries must enter with a negative COVID-19 test and those who fail to arrive with the approved test results should be tested on arrival on the island.

Moreover, the doctors want all persons who arrive with negative results from a test done 72 hours earlier, to undergo an interview with Ministry of Health personnel to find out if they engaged in any activity that might have put them at risk prior to arriving in the island and after taking the COVID-19 test in the country from which they departed.

More important, BAMP wants only the Chief Medical Officer to approve whether the initial negative test should be accepted.

The concerned doctors are also stating that all travellers from high risk countries “must be in quarantine on arrival and remain in quarantine until and after the second test result is known and is negative. Failure to remain in quarantine until instructed to leave should be considered an offence”.

The doctors also want all second COVID-19 tests to be at the travellers’ expense and not funded by Barbadian taxpayers. They are suggesting a minimum charge of US$150 be imposed at government facilities.

In addition, the medical practitioners say visitors who refuse “required first-testing on arrival or second test five to seven days after the date of arrival, should be required to complete 14 days of quarantine at a government facility.

To support their position, the doctors cited references from the New Zealand and Australian health departments as well as the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, among others. (IMC1)