Health Ministry runs out of chemicals for testing bird flu

The Ministry of Health has run out of chemicals for testing bird flu, deputy minister for Agriculture Hannah Bissiw has revealed.

Over GHc 1m  worth of birds have been destroyed on several farms due to the outbreak of the flu in the West African nation.

But the government’s attempt to curb the spread of the deadly virus has now hit a snag due to the shortage of chemicals for detecting the flu.

Briefing Parliament on the development Thursday, the deputy minister urged farmers not to panic since government is making efforts to source the chemicals as soon as possible.

“Currently, we have run out of the agents to do further tests on the birds that we may be receiving from the various farms.

“But we are ready as a ministry to move to the field, the surveillance is still on and we will continue to supervise,” she stated.

She added, however, that the lack of funds is also hampering the ministry’s campaign towards fighting the disease.