This archive report was first published on 13 July 2020.
Published on July 13, 2020
Langata Hospital and the Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) are at odds over Covid-19 tests conducted on behalf of the private health provider.
According to the hospital management, Kemri agreed to test all coronavirus samples from the facility, but the agency insists that the two parties had a memorandum of understanding to only test persons in the food and beverage department.
However, Kemri holds that its agreement with Lang'ata was that it only conducts tests on people in the service industry, which requires several exams before they are employed.
Langata Hospital management has accused Kemri of dishonesty, stating that the agency should tell Kenyans the truth about the Covid-19 tests.
"Kemri should stop being dishonest and tell Kenyans the truth. The people we were taking to the institute were not of any category, but all our clients who needed the Covid-19 test. It's the institute that came up with the amount of Sh4,000, which we would pay after every test," said the management.
The hospital management also claimed that Kemri was charging Sh4,000 for each test, while they were paying Sh5,500, with Sh1,500 going towards fuel and Sh4,000 to Kemri.
It has also been alleged that Kemri is conducting Covid-19 tests using kits donated to the country while charging Kenyans who need the test.
A top official at Kemri, who sought anonymity, said that the Centre for Microbiology Research (CMR) located in Kenyatta National Hospital complex has been conducting tests using kits donated by China's billionaire Jack Ma through his Alibaba Foundation.
"The CMR has been charging Sh5,000 for the tests using kits that were donated by Jack Ma, which is quite unfortunate, because the samples that were paid for were given priority while the rest piled up in the backlog," the source said.
Recently, there has been a push and pull between various laboratories and other institutions over who should conduct the Covid-19 tests.
