This archive report was first published on 9 July 2020.
Lang'ata Hospital Raided and Closed Down Over Fake Covid-19 Tests ¶
On July 9, 2020, Lang'ata Hospital in Nairobi was raided and closed down by the Kenya Medical Laboratory Technicians and Technology Board after it emerged that the hospital's laboratory was conducting fake Covid-19 tests.
The hospital's laboratory was found to be charging patients Sh5,500 for the tests, then ferrying them to the Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) for the actual tests. The hospital had been misleading the public that it had the capacity to conduct the tests.
According to the Kenya Medical Laboratory Technicians and Technology Board, the hospital management had allegedly been colluding with some staff at Kemri to charge and conduct unauthorized Covid-19 tests.
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.
President Uhuru Kenyatta had earlier warned that anyone found taking advantage of the coronavirus crisis would be dealt with by the authorities.
On March 31, 2020, the Health Ministry warned the public that counterfeit Covid-19 testing kits had penetrated the market and advised Kenyans to only use the real-time PCR tests approved by the World Health Organization (WHO).
