Nairobi Hospital to carry out 900 tests for Covid-19 daily at Ksh.10K

The Nairobi Hospital will, effective Monday, be carrying out at least 900 tests per day for the novel coronavirus at a cost of Ksh.10,000 each.

The facility, in a statement to newsrooms, said the increase in testing capacity was enabled by the deployment of both the Rotor-Gene Q and QIASymphony testing platforms creating an integrated and automated PCR testing setup.

The said amount for the test will include costs of the testing kits, sampling materials and Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) that the hospital staff needs to wear to take and test the samples.

Test results will then take between 6-24 hours to return and those who test positive will be required to quarantine at a hospital of their choice as the Ministry of Health follows up on contact tracing.

“The hospital currently has a total capacity of 37 COVID-19 isolation beds, 12 of which are ICU beds with plans to expand as the pandemic evolves,” read the statement.

“The Hospital staff managing the COVID-19 Isolation Unit includes a multidisciplinary team which includes the hospital’s Infection Prevention & Control team, nursing staff, Specialist doctors, counsellors and cleaning crew.”

The Nairobi Hospital CEO Dr. Allan Pamba said, “We welcome the public to come for testing in a bid to reduce community infections. We also urge corporates to partner with us to support the Government’s ambition to achieve mass testing.”