Government rolls out mass testing of medics – KBC

The Government has begun mass testing of medical practitioners and staff working in health facilities for the Covid-19 disease. 

The exercise was launched at the Kenyatta National Hospital by Health PS Susan Mochache where at least 400 medical officers were screened.

Soy constituency MP Caleb Kositany also joined KNH staff for voluntary testing for COVID-19 during the launch.

According to Health Principal Secretary Susan Mochache screening will first be conducted in all medical facilities with special focus on first line responders of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Ministry of Health hopes to test 500 medical officers daily before the screening is scaled up to the general public.

One of the challenges noted with novel Coronavirus testing is the long duration it takes for results to be known.

However, the government has procured machines that will give results after three hours of testing and will be able to test at least 3000 people in a day.

The COBAS 6800 Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) machine, can test approximately 3000 samples per day on a 24 hour basis and the results given within 3 to 6 hours.