Chairman of the Health Committee of Parliament has admitted that the antigen testing equipment used by Frontier Healthcare Services Limited at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) does not provide 100% certainty in terms of results.

According to Dr Ayew Afriyie, this explains the false-positive Covid-19 cases recorded at the Airport.

Speaking on Joy FM's Top Story, Friday, Dr Afriyie explained that this limitation is not a cause for alarm in Ghana's fight against the pandemic.

This he said is because the WHO requires that testing equipment provide 70 per cent accuracy but the equipment used by Frontiers Health Limited is 97 per cent accurate.

"If you are talking about positivity, it is possible that there could be false positives. If you are testing somebody, you pick a sample, there could even be error and you come to realize that there were false positives. It is possible to have PCR negative, you sit on a flight and then you have the infection and upon arrival, you go and do an antigen test, it will be positive.

"No antigen equipment in this part of the world and for all those experts hearing me, that is, point of care equipment is 100 per cent with sensitivity and specificity. With WHO, it recommends that point of care equipment should have antigen, that is antigen sensitivity of 70 per cent, that is positive and truly positive. Thirty per cent could be negative, it doesn't matter, you can use the equipment," he stated.

He disclosed that the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) ensures, through weekly visits to the Airport that every antigen test carried out is confirmed by a PCR test.

His comments come at a time when the Minority in Parliament is requesting that the Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu be summoned before the House to explain why Frontiers Healthcare Limited has recently recorded numerous false-positive cases.

According to the MP for Ningo-Prampram, Samuel Nartey George, this is a worrying matter that needs to be addressed immediately.

"I want to find out if the business committee will be minded to bring the Minister for Health to this House in the course of the week on the growing challenges that Ghanaians and foreigners are facing with the antigen test that is being done by Frontiers Healthcare Limited.

"The growing number of false positives appears to be becoming a certain cause of worry because people are testing negative in less than 72 hours before they arrive in Ghana, the antigen test at the Airport finds them positive," he said.