Dr Kodwo Koram, Director, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research on Monday said the Institute was a World Health Organisation certified organisation and that it would not in any way falsify medical research results.
This was in response to questions raised by people about the accuracy of the results given by the Institute on people whose blood had been sent there to be tested on whether they had contracted the Ebola disease or not.
Dr Koram said this during a familiarization tour by the Dr Kodwo Agyemang Mensah, Minister of Health to the Noguchi and the Food and Drugs Authority.
He said the entire test conducted on people purported to have contracted the Ebola virus had proved to be negative, adding that, the Institute had no reason to falsify results as it would taint its image should the truth come out eventually.
He urged Ghanaians to be grateful to God that all the research findings carried out on persons purported to have contracted the disease had proved to be negative.
He said Ghana and Senegal were the only countries in Africa to have such medical research facilities which had helped a lot of other countries in the sub region due to the accuracy of its research findings.
Dr Kweku Agyeman Mensah, appealed to Ghanaians to have faith in the works of Noguchi as it had carried out a lot of findings which had gone a long way to help in medical research.
At the Food and Drugs Authority, Mr Odame Darkwa, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, cited the retention of only 50 percent of the organisation�s Internally Generated Fund (IGF) as one of the biggest challenge facing it.
He said FDA was the only state institution which was required to give 50 percent of its IGF to Government and retain the other 50 percent, adding that the issue had adversely affected the financial fortunes of the organisation.
He said the organisation also lacked adequate staffing as its technical staff throughout the country was not even up to 300.
He said the laboratory at the FDA was ISO 17025 standard, which is also a world standard, adding that countries such as Tanzania, Zambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia among others had visited the organisation to understudy it.
The Minister expressed his appreciation to the staff and pledged the readiness of the Ministry to work closely with them.
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