This archive report was first published on 15 July 2020.
On Monday, the Ministry of Health refuted reports that Kenyans were being forced to pay over Sh5,000 for Covid-19 tests in designated government institutions.
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe clarified that government hospitals were charging Sh1,000 for the tests, urging Kenyans to visit the facilities to know their status.
"We don't charge for mass testing. There are private labs that are also testing as well as government hospitals. In government hospitals we are charging Sh1,000," said Kagwe.
As of 2020, the Ministry of Health was focusing on testing persons who exhibit Covid-19 symptoms at government health facilities, as opposed to random testing, due to cost implications.
Recently, there has been a push and pull between various laboratories and other institutions over who should conduct the Covid-19 tests.
On March 17, 2020, the Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) announced that it would no longer collect Covid-19 samples for testing, but instead test samples from various designated testing facilities in the country.
Lang'ata Hospital in Nairobi had its laboratory closed indefinitely in April 2020 for carrying out fake Covid-19 tests.
