Kisumu sets up molecular laboratory at county referral hospital » Capital News
KISUMU, Kenya, Sep 5 — Kisumu has established a molecular laboratory at the County Referral Hospital to promote early diagnosis and patients’ initiation to management.
Kisumu County Deputy Governor Dr Mathews Owili Thursday termed the initiative a milestone since it will promote surveillance of public health concern diseases through multi-disease testing platforms.
The laboratory will not only test and monitor HIV cases but also other pathogens including COVID-19, TB, HPV, Hepatitis and future emerging diseases.
Owili noted that with the establishment of the molecular laboratory, Kisumu is moving closer towards the elimination of mother-to-child HIV transmission, since the facility will bolster the capacity to deal with Viral Load (VL) and Early Infant Diagnosis (EID) tests challenges.
“Today, Kisumu county’s viral coverage is at 96.3 percent and child transmission rates at 6 per cent,” he said.
Reduced turnaround
Before the facility, the viral load and EID tests were only available at KEMRI Kisian, AMPATH in Eldoret and Walter Reed in Kericho.
Owili noted the transportation of samples to the facilities twice a week and waiting time avaraging a week to ten days, the management of patients remained a challenge.
“The turnaround time will significantly reduce by 85 percent since the facility is just here within Kisumu Central Business District (CBD),” he said.
He said the lab will relay results for Kisumu County Referral Hospital samples on the same day while for peripheral healthcare facilities on the network will receive results within 24-72 hours.
Speaking during the launch of the testing platform, Owili announced that the facility has the capacity to offer 2,000 tests per day.
“This is a remarkable development in advancing timely results for Kisumu citizens and beyond,” he said.
He further noted that the county had trained medical laboratory officers, mentored and adequately equipped them with with the knowledge and skills to undertake the testing.
Kisumu set up the facility with support from National Public Health Laboratories, CDC/PEPFAR, Amref Health Africa, CIHEB, PATH, AMPATH and KEMRI Kisian.
While congratulating everyone who contributed towards the facility, Owili pointed out that reducing disease burden in the county remains top on the priority list.
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