This archive report was first published on 9 July 2020.
Lang'ata Hospital Closed Over Alleged Fake Covid-19 Tests ¶
On July 8, 2020, the Lang'ata Hospital laboratory was closed down indefinitely after a raid by officials from the Kenya Medical Laboratory Technicians and Technologies Board (KMLTTB) accompanied by police officers. The raid was carried out over allegations that the hospital was conducting fake Covid-19 tests.
According to the KMLTTB report, the hospital was charging patients Ksh5,500 to carry out the test, but the samples were being sent to KEMRI facilities for testing because the laboratory was not equipped to handle testing.
"The reason why we have concluded to close this laboratory is that they are lying to the public that they are doing the Covid-19 testing while they are not," said KMLTTB CEO Patrick Kisabei. "We have also tried to establish if there is an agreement with the public institution (KEMRI) to conduct the tests and we managed to get a document which is now a subject of investigation," he added.
During the raid, officials discovered that the hospital had stocked government-labelled reagents, which were expired, and that the management had lied to the public about conducting Covid-19 tests.
The Director of the hospital, the Chief Operations Officer, Laboratory Manager, and Laboratory Technologist were taken into custody as police launched a formal investigation following the startling findings.
