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Lang’ata Hospital hit by Covid-19 tests scandal


Lang’ata Hospital in Nairobi has had its laboratory closed indefinitely for carrying out fake Covid-19 tests.

The facility was raided on Wednesday by officials from the Kenya Medical Laboratory Technicians and Technology Board following allegations that they were carrying out fake Covid-19 tests.

TESTING FEE

The hospital is on the spot for allegedly colluding with some staff at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) to charge and conduct unauthorised Covid-19 tests, despite lacking the capacity to do so.

Reports indicate that the hospital has been charging patients Sh5,500 for the tests then ferrying them in an ambulance to Kemri for the actual tests, while misleading the public that it has the capacity to conduct the tests.

Patrick Kisabei, CEO of the laboratory technicians’s board, said they are trying to establish if there was any memorandum of understanding of any public institution that has the capacity to test Covid-19.

“The reason why we have decided to close this institution is that they are lying to the public that they are doing the Covid-19 tests while they are not,” he said.

EXPIRED REAGENTS

During the raid, the team also found out that the hospital was stocking and using expired reagents for tests.

They also found government labelled test kits which are not for sale at the facility despite it being a privately owned and run.

The director of the hospital, the chief operations officer, laboratory manager and the lab technologists were all arrested and spent the night in police cells as investigations commenced.

Last month, the Health Ministry warned the public that counterfeit Covid-19 testing kits have penetrated the market and advised Kenyans to only use the real-time PCR tests approved by the World Health Organization (WHO).

In March, a doctor was arrested alongside his employee for advertising fake Covid-19 test kits.

FALSE ADVERT

Dr Pravan Pancholi, the proprietor of Avane Clinic in Nairobi, and his co-accused Ndinda Kaleve were later charged in a Nairobi court with making a false advert claiming to sell coronavirus test kits.

The suspects were arrested in a raid by the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council at Yaya Centre, Nairobi.

The dermatology and medical spa had issued a flyer claiming to offer Covid-19 tests just days after Kenya confirmed its first case of the virus.

The duo’s arrest came after Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe issued a stern warning against business people profiteering off the pandemic.

President Uhuru Kenyatta had also warned that anyone found taking advantage of the coronavirus crisis would be dealt with by the authorities.