Coronavirus: US multimillion reagents deal stalls robust coronavirus testing in Kenya

03 Septembre 2020

Nairobi, Kenya, September 3 (Infosplusgabon) - The testing for the coronavirus pandemic in Kenya has slowed substantially since the US ordered its companies manufacturing the chemicals used in the virus testing not to sell globally, Kenya's Cabinet Secretary for Health, Mutahi Kagwe, said on Wednesday.

Kenya is facing difficulties securing the chemical reagents needed to increase testing for the coronavirus disease, the Minister said during a Parliamentary probe into the misuse of the budget set aside for fighting the pandemic.

"We have a crisis right now because we don't have reagents. The American govt has suspended the exportation of reagents for testing our people," Kagwe said.

He was appearing before the Parliamentary Health Committee investigating the misuse of the coronavirus pandemic funds.

The health Ministry is being investigated over about US$7 million to purchase various items required to sustain the battle against the coronavirus pandemic.

Most of the supplies bought through the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (KEMSA) for the ministry of health were purchased at inflated prices.

KEMSA purchased US$3.4 million worth of the Abbott Real-Time testing SARS-COV2 test kits in May.

The agency was also supposed to purchase US$814,814 worth of Abbott PCR tests and extraction kits and transport media.

Recently, US President Donald Trump signed an agreement with Abbott Laboratories for the purchase of US$750 million worth of the rapid testing kits to expand the US testing capacity, according to Wall Street Journal.

"It is my job right now to liaise with KEMSA to figure out what we can do to salvage the situation that we have right now," Kagwe said, denying that he used his post in the ministry to pile pressure on ministry executives.

Kagwe said the testing machines come from America. "America has put an embargo on the exportation of the machines. We have a serious challenge on the supply of the reagents. There is a formal restructuring of the engagements. We are having crisis which we have to manage," Kagwe added.

The shortage of the reagents has forced the local laboratories, some of which were offering free testing for the frontline healthcare workers, to stop the process.

"We are looking for the reagents before we scale up the testing," Kagwe said.

Kenya has been recording low caseloads of the pandemic, which has infected some 34,493 people with 581 deaths, according to the health ministry.

The reported daily caseloads have been returning lower cases of those testing positive for the virus, leading to speculation that Kenya was about to "flatten the curve" of infections.

"Testing itself does not give you the situation as it stands in the country. We are working hard as we can and we are facing a global challenge," Kagwe told the Parliamentary Committee.

FIN/ INFOSPLUSGABON/TFG/GABON2020

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