Kemri stops sample collection as scandal in testing exposed

Kemri staffer sorts some test samples at their lab in Kilifi in May.  PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • After charging as much as Sh15,000 for a Covid-19 test, they send the samples to Kemri for testing.
  • Lang'ata Hospital, which was alleged to be involved in the testing scam has been closed and its director, chief operations officer, laboratory manager and lab technologists arrested.

The Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) will no longer collect Covid-19 samples for testing but will instead test samples from designated testing centres in the country.

The institute has not been charging for the tests, and some private hospitals have taken advantage of this to exploit clients. After charging as much as Sh15,000 for a Covid-19 test, they send the samples to Kemri for testing.

“We would like to notify the public that Kemri will not be handling sample collection for Covid-19 testing. However, the institute will continue to discharge its national duty of conducting the Covid-19 sample testing in all our designated laboratories countrywide,” Kemri Director-General Yeri Kombe said in a statement on Thursday.

FORMAL REQUEST

Prof Kombe instructed centres with samples to be collected to make a formal request to the institute so that necessary arrangements could be made to dispatch teams to collect them.

“Walk-ins   will not be allowed at our facilities,” he said, adding: “If people start crowding at Kemri, it will be like we’re spreading the virus, with no social distancing. It beats the logic.” 

“Kemri laboratories handle infectious samples and the possibility of infection is very high, so this is in the interest of protecting the public. It’s for their safety,” Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said.

Lang’ata Hospital, which was alleged to be involved in the testing scam has been closed and its director, chief operations officer, laboratory manager and lab technologists arrested. It was reportedly charging Sh5,500 after saying it was offering the tests.

HOTELIERS

But Kemri’s corporate affairs  office said they had a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Lang’ata Hospital to be testing people seeking jobs in the food and beverages sectors, who are required to undergo a variety of  tests,  including  urinary tract infections and  Covid-19,

 “We have strictly been testing those in the food and beverage sectors, including hoteliers, at Sh5,000, and not the general public. When they placed the alert, we reported the matter” it said.

Mr Patrick Kisabei, Chief Executive Officer of the Laboratory Technicians Board, said they are trying to establish whether there was a memorandum of understanding between Kemri and any public institution that can conduct Covid-19 tests.