The Crisis Staff of the Sarajevo Canton Ministry of Health, to monitor and analyze the situation caused by the coronavirus, expressed a position that does not recommend rapid tests of residents of the Sarajevo Canton for the presence of antibodies to coronavirus in the blood, which are performed in private health facilities.
"Such tests, very questionable accuracy, which are not recorded anywhere in our health system, nor are they subject to mandatory institutional epidemiological surveillance, can give a distorted picture of the current epidemiological situation in Sarajevo Canton, and thus throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina," is the Crisis Staff of MZ KS.
Molecular testing - PCR is the gold standard in the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection and is only performed on the basis of a referral from the competent health institutions in the authorized laboratories of public health institutions in the Sarajevo Canton.
Rapid tests for the presence of antibodies in the blood, insufficient reliability, can give a "false picture" and thus be a key argument to the population of Sarajevo Canton to, without the views and recommendations of this expert body, stop implementing all previously prescribed public health measures. In the previous period, it managed to maintain a linear increase in coronavirus infection, and reduced it to the current minimum number.
Serological tests for the presence of antibodies in private laboratories are the right of every citizen, but they can only be used for personal use and have no public health significance.
In the coming period, relevant methods of serological testing will determine the presence of antibodies in the blood, and thus the degree of coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 circulation among our population, and will be carried out within public health.
https://vlada.ks.gov.ba/aktuelnosti/novosti-vezane-za-koronu-virus/krizni-stab-ministarstva-zdravstva-ne-preporucuje
