Accra, May 24, GNA - The Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital on Monday booked its first two Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) test cases to determine issues that require further investigations.

The cost ranges between 400 dollars for two persons and 800 dollars for double (DNA for three people such as a father, mother and child). "Out of a total of eight cases registered and requiring attention, only two were booked due to flaws in procedures to give the Centre the permit to start the procedure," BMS Augustine Sagoe, Laboratory Manager of the Central Laboratory of the Hospital told the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Accra on Monday.

The service, he said was now available in Ghana to ensure quality work in that the test would be done in the Hospital to make it more cost effective because samples would no longer be exported to South Africa. He said it had taken the hospital six years for the Immunology and Cell Biology Centre to materialize due to the accreditation of the machine and community acceptance.

He said DNA "was the essence of life and in medical terms the digital of an individual and the inheritance of every individual. It is the material that governs inheritance of eye colour, hair colour, stature, bone density and many other human traits and that any part of the body can be used". According to Mr Sagoe, the protocol of acquisition included a booking process followed by the registration of the sample by a specialist physician and an authentication of the sample. It should be confirmed as that of the client. The Hospital's Lawyer witnesses it before regents were added to the sample. He said 56 tests could be done in a day and explained that results would be completed in 10 working days due to the cost of the regent but those who would want quicker services would have to pay more to fast track the process. B.M.S. Seth Agyemang, Head of the Centre, called on corporate bodies for assistance to help the Centre to improve and embrace new and contemporary trends in the field. 24 May10