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Medical board fines, suspends doctor over sale of fake coronavirus test kit


The Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council (KMPDC) on Saturday fined and suspended Avane Limited Medical Clinic proprietor Dr Pranav Pancholi for advertising fake Covid-19 test kits.

The clinic’s license was also withdrawn for six months. Pancholi was ordered to pay a Sh500,000 fine in two weeks.

“Dr Pancholi is hereby admonished for allowing his institution to publish a deceitful, erroneous and misleading advertisement,” said KMPDC chairperson Eva Njenga in a letter addressed to Dr Pancholi.

The council had on Monday raided Avane clinic located at Yaya Center where they demanded to see the new kits on sale after it claimed to sell them for Sh3,000 each.

The move came days after Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe issued a stern warning business people against profiteering off the pandemic.

Dr Pancholi and Sylvia Ndinda Kaleve were arrested and charged in court with making a misleading advert informing Kenyans that they were selling coronavirus testing kits.

They denied the charges and were released on a cash bail of Sh150,000 each. The court process is different from the one by KMPDC.

In the advertisement, the spa was offering used coronavirus testing kits for Sh600 apiece and even provided a till number through which payment for the kits could be channelled.

“Only 400 remaining from 1,000 Unit Stock,” the advertisement read in part.

It also claimed that the facility would provide medical attention for infected patients which, according to KMPDC, is a function they are not licensed to undertake.