Paynesville – Mr. Benjamin Soko, an employee of the National Public Health Institute who recently requested testing at the COVID-19 voluntary testing center at SKD Sport complex, “tricked” the lab technicians into collecting his specimen under a fake name, FrontPageAfrica has gathered.
During a recent visit of the drive through testing center, located in Paynesville city, FPA was told by the onsite sample collection coordinator that when Mr. Soko showed up on April 9 to request a voluntary test, he deceived the lab technicians, who did not know his real identity.
Mr. Soko was accused of using “Benjamin C. Tokofo” when he showed up for testing at the center.
“When he [Soko] came here in the morning, I met him around 8:30 and told him that he should wait so we could do our set up,” explained Sowillie Lomax, a lab technologist with the Ministry of Health who now coordinates sample collection at the SKD Complex center,
“But then he [Soko] met one of the girls who were assigned here and I told her that we have a staff here from NPHIL and you can talk to him to know the details of his case.
“Later those girls came back and told me that he did not meet the case definition for testing, because all the questions that they asked him he denied all – that he never had contact with anybody but he just came to do his own test.”
Lomax said Mr. Soko was then denied the test and was further requested to seek permission from his office before they could render him the test. But because she identified him as a staff of NPHIL, she requested that he be given a privilege and then asked that his sample be taken.
“It was during that time when the girls were taking his information that he deceived them and gave them a false name,” she said, admitting that although she knows Mr. Soko many of the other workers at the specimen collection cebter are not staff of NPHIL and so they could not easily determine his real identity.
“The man came and tricked us, because I who do the data entry, at the end of the day if I had seen his name I was going to know but I didn’t see his name and I was surprise to start hearing news that he gave a fake name to the lab technicians.”
Ms. Lomax added that because she was overwhelmed “with the load of work” on that day she was unable to check the names of everyone that appeared.
“At the end of the day, I can capture all the people that come here and then text it to Mr. John Dogba, who is not always here at the testing centers,” she said.
“The man came and tricked us, because I who do the data entry, at the end of the day if I had seen his name I was going to know but I didn’t see his name and I was surprise to start hearing news that he gave a fake name to the lab technicians.” – Sowillie Lomax, a lab technologist at SKD Testing Center
Mr. Dogba, who is the Director of NPHIL’s Reference Laboratory, was recently accused of helping Mr. Soko present a fake name in order to conceal his identity when he’s tested positive for COVID-19.
But Dogba denies the allegation, stressing that his job is not concentrated at the voluntary testing center. He supervises over 60 people including lab technicians, collect results from all the labs and submit same to the health authorities, adding that he doesn’t come in contact with people who go for testing and could not conceal the identity of anyone who shows up for testing.
“I think people didn’t understand the process here that’s why they had it mixed up, but I think if people get to understand the process clearly it would have been better,” he said in response to media reports accusing him of hiding the identity of Mr. Soko.
“I lead a team that works day and night to save lives – now I’m distracted. In fact, I’m very disappointed because if I’m working for this system to save people lives and the very people that I’m trying to save carry such story against me, I’m disappointed. For people to say I tried to cover-up it is highly deceptive – I cannot do that, according to my ethics.”
“I think people didn’t understand the process here that’s why they had it mixed up, but I think if people get to understand the process clearly it would have been better.” – John Dogba, Director of NPHIL’s Reference Laboratory
When asked if there’s a need to be more robust at the testing center following the Soko incident, Mr. Dogba emphasized that the sample collection and testing process for COVID-19 “are in place”, adding that the “quality management system at the labs makes it impossible to temper with result or a person’s identity”.
“Because the data that is generated here goes in the app on the phone, goes into the data base before it even goes to the lab, the specimen goes in the lab and it’s recorded in the lecture, the test is done and the result comes back with the same name as was collected – so how will I do something deceptive to try to change people’s identity?” Said the Liberian Scientist, who is now completing his PhD at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
He said “despite the misinformation about me”, working for the country to stop the spread of the coronavirus pandemic is his ultimate goal.
“At this time around the world, everybody is pulling together the best scientists, best lab technicians, best clinical personal to work for them – this is a call to national duty and I’m not going to neglect my people,” Dogba said.
Liberia now has 71 new cases as of Wednesday, April 16 after Dr. Mosoka Fallah disclosed on Truth Fm in Monrovia that 12 new cases have been confirmed.
Dr. Fallah, Director General of NPHIL, has often stressed the importance of more testing in order to identify confirmed cases and trace contacts in order to isolate and provide clinical treatments for patients.
This means testing or collection of sample at the SKD complex center remains a critical part of Liberia’s response to curbing the spread of the pandemic that has already caused the death of six persons in the country.