A private Laboratory in Nairobi is offering drive-through Coronavirus (COVID-19) screening at a hefty exorbitant Sh13,349 per test.
Pathologists Lancet Kenya (PLK) which owns a group of pathology laboratories in a flyer released on their social media platforms announced the new system where patients who begin to show symptoms of the virus can drive to their Main Lab at our 5th Ave. HQ in Upper Hill, Parklands Branch at ParkPlace and get attended to by a specialist without leaving their car.
Dr. Ahmed Kalebi says the test samples are sent to PLK laboratories in South Africa for results hence the costs. “We are at an advanced stage of setting up the test in our Main Lab in Nairobi – just waiting for the kits to arrive anytime the end of this week, and will be rolling out local testing with the capacity to scale-up. When we start local testing the cost will come down by almost 1/2.” He says.
Whether the laboratory is authorized to run these tests by the government is still question.
Kenyan authorities on 16th March arrested 10 people who were purporting to offer similar services to the public. The suspects had advertised they were selling testing kits online of which they had sold 600 fake kits at the time of arrest, officials said.
