{"id":11214,"date":"2020-07-15T18:10:59","date_gmt":"2020-07-15T18:10:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/kenya\/?p=11214"},"modified":"2020-07-15T18:38:47","modified_gmt":"2020-07-15T18:38:47","slug":"counties-still-cant-test-four-months-after-virus-struck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/community\/counties-still-cant-test-four-months-after-virus-struck","title":{"rendered":"Counties still can\u2019t test four months after virus struck"},"content":{"rendered":"

AfricaPress-Kenya:<\/strong> With the grim reality that Covid-19 could overrun health facilities, there are concerns over the county governments\u2019 ability to test the public for the virus.<\/p>\n

Council of Governors chair Wycliffe Oparanya admitted that the capability of counties to test the public for coronavirus was still a challenge despite making progress on preparedness to handle patients.<\/p>\n

Mr Oparanya said all counties have GeneXpert machines for testing the virus but lack cartridges and reagents.\u201cLack of the cartridges has contributed to counties being unable to test for the virus and this hinders targeted testing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Tests for the virus are largely done by the Kenya Medical Research Institutie (Kemri).\u201cAs we speak now the responsibility of testing lies with the national government, making counties to rely on Kemri for results,\u201d said Oparanya.The Kakamega Governor disclosed that he was seeking to partner with a private agency to establish a Covid-19 testing centre at the Kakamega County Teaching and Referral Hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a county, we have recorded nine cases, six of which have been treated and released. Currently we only have three patients on treatment, which has prompted us to seek a private partner to help test our people,\u201d said Oparanya.A spot check by africa-press established that Kisumu County was using the local Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) laboratories to test for the virus.<\/p>\n

However, in Siaya, there are no testing kits and samples are sent to Kemri in Kisumu. This means those tested have to wait for about two days to get feedback.\u201cWe currently do not have the capacity to test, though we collect samples and transport to Kemri, Kisumu,\u201d said County Public Health director Kennedy Oruenjo.The same is the case for Nyamira County, which also sends its samples to Kisumu.<\/p>\n

Funding proposal<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nyamira Health executive Douglas Bosire said they were banking on a funding proposal to instal laboratories to test for the virus.<\/p>\n

He disclosed that a French organisation, in conjunction with the national government, planned to fund the project.\u201cNyamira is among counties in Nyanza that were clustered for utilisation of the Kemri Kisumu lab, but we are hoping things will work out well for us to have a testing centre in the county,\u201d Bosire said.<\/p>\n

The Health Executive regretted that the county\u2019s multi agency team doing surveillance and contact tracing was encountering difficulties due to unwillingness by suspected cases to share details.In Kisii, Executive Committee Member in charge of Health Sarah Omache said they are waiting for the licensing of Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital to conduct Covid-19 tests.<\/p>\n

Mrs Omache said in the meantime they were sending samples for testing to Kemri CDC in Kisumu, with results expected two days after samples are taken there.Meru Health Executive Misheck Mutuma said they took samples to Nairobi. The county had by yesterday sent at least 1,200 samples to Nairobi.\u00a0The executive however noted a worrying carefree attitude among residents, even as Covid-19 cases went up counrywide.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are not wearing masks or keeping social distance. The message we want our people to understand is that the 430 beds are not enough, if residents continue to disregard personal safety guidelines,\u201d he said.\u00a0In Murang\u2019a, Health Chief Officer James Gitau said mass testing was a responsibility of the national government while the county\u2019s role was contact tracing.<\/p>\n

africa-press has also found that counties in the South Rift region are not capable of conducting Covid-19 tests.Nakuru, Narok, Bomet, Baringo, Kericho, Samburu and Nyandarua counties lack laboratories and human resource to conduct the exercise.<\/p>\n

Kericho county director of health, Betty Lang\u2019at said they lack reagents to conduct Covid-19 tests hence samples collected are send to the local Kemri. \u201cIf given reagents, we are capable of handling mass testing. But currently, we are depending on Kemri for tests,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Dr Lang\u2019at said health officials conducted surveillance to pick suspected Covid-19 cases, whose samples are taken for testing. \u00a0She noted that about 100 laboratory technicians had been trained on extraction and handling of samples for Covid-19 tests.<\/p>\n

Nyandarua County Chief Officer of Health Joram Muraya said Covid-19 testing was the responsibility of the national government.\u201cIt is only the Ministry of Health at national level that should be in a position to state if counties are prepared to test for Covid-19. Even if supplied with re-agents, it is still beyond the county,\u201d said the chief officer.<\/p>\n

Trained on extraction<\/strong><\/p>\n

In Laikipia, the County Secretary Karanja Njora said they were capable of conducting tests, with support from the ministry.\u201cIf supplied with reagents and other logistics, we shall test more people because we have adequate human resource,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

So far, the county has recorded three Covid-19 cases. One has recovered. Covid-19 patients are managed at Nanyuki hospital. The county has six ICU beds and 426 isolation ones.For Nakuru, at least 100 laboratory technicians have been trained on extraction and handling of samples for Covid-19 test.<\/p>\n

Chief Officer of Public Health Samuel King\u2019ori told africa-press the county had brought on board health experts from Amref Health Africa to train them on molecular technique in analysis for Covid-19 tests.\u201cExperts from Amref are accessing our equipment in laboratories to advise on what is required and what can be enhanced in testing of Covid-19 samples, that will enable us to handle tests,\u201d said the official.<\/p>\n

Currently, the trained medical officials extract swabs from suspects, primary and secondary contacts that are transported to influenza laboratories in Nairobi for tests.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AfricaPress-Kenya: With the grim reality that Covid-19 could overrun health facilities, there are concerns over the county governments\u2019 ability to test the public for the virus. Council of Governors chair Wycliffe Oparanya admitted that the capability of counties to test the public for coronavirus was still a challenge despite making progress on preparedness to handle […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":9485,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,2111,7,8],"tags":[939,1539,429],"class_list":["post-11214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-coronavirus-in-kenya","category-head-lines","category-homepage-english","tag-coronavirus","tag-covid-19","tag-kemri"],"yoast_head":"\nCounties still can\u2019t test four months after virus struck - kenya<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"With the grim reality that Covid-19 could overrun health facilities, there are concerns over the county governments\u2019 ability to test the public for the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/community\/counties-still-cant-test-four-months-after-virus-struck\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Counties still can\u2019t test four months after virus struck\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With the grim reality that Covid-19 could overrun health facilities, there are concerns over the county governments\u2019 ability to test the public for the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/community\/counties-still-cant-test-four-months-after-virus-struck\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"kenya\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-07-15T18:10:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-07-15T18:38:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/28\/2020\/06\/health_sector_set_to5ee270adb152e.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"842\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"527\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/community\/counties-still-cant-test-four-months-after-virus-struck#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/community\/counties-still-cant-test-four-months-after-virus-struck\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Counties still can\u2019t test four months after virus struck\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-07-15T18:10:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-07-15T18:38:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/community\/counties-still-cant-test-four-months-after-virus-struck\"},\"wordCount\":920,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/community\/counties-still-cant-test-four-months-after-virus-struck#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/28\/2020\/06\/health_sector_set_to5ee270adb152e.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Coronavirus\",\"COVID-19\",\"Kemri\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\",\"Coronavirus in kenya\",\"head lines\",\"homepage-english\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/community\/counties-still-cant-test-four-months-after-virus-struck#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/community\/counties-still-cant-test-four-months-after-virus-struck\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/community\/counties-still-cant-test-four-months-after-virus-struck\",\"name\":\"Counties still can\u2019t test four months after virus struck - 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