A Kenyan company that manufactures medical disposables has begun exporting Personal Protective Equipment and COVID 19 Viral Transport Medium (VTM) and Swabs to help in the fight against the pandemic.
Revital Health Care EPZ Limited which manufactures the medical disposables in Kilifi county has a capacity of producing 80,000 testing kits per day and is the only one in Africa certified to produce the reagents and PPEs.
The company has begun exporting the COVID 19 reagents to 14 countries including Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Namibia, and Zambia among others.
Ranjni Vora the chairman of Revital Health EPZ limited said the company is certified by the World Health Organisation and accredited with WHO-GMP ISO 13485 2016 EN ISO 9001 2015, CE mark and all products making to meet the International standards.
Speaking after a tour of the factory by Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi, Vora said the company started manufacturing two products but currently they are producing 34 products and intend to manufacture all the 1000 medical products.
''When COVID-19 came, my highlight was PPE Kits and COVID testing kits, it took me three months to get the right things done, the right approvals the right certification of my company and that's how I started my products,'' he said.
The chairman said Revital health care limited was the only company in Africa which can manufacture 80, 000 VTMs and swabs a day.
He said he has the certification to export the VTMs and swabs to Europe and soon it will be possible to export to the USA.
So far he said they have employed 400 people 80 percent of which are women adding that his target is to reach 1000 employees.
Vora donated 1000 testing kits to the Kilifi county government.
''Today I am offering 1000 VTM Tubes with swabs free of charge to the Kilifi county government,'' he said.
Some of the other products being manufactured by his company include, Blood collection tubes, Plain no additive K3, IV cannula with wings, Urine bag collection, Infusion set, Face masks surgical single three-ply, Premium surgical masks, Specimen collection swabs among others.
Kingi who toured the company located along Mombasa Malindi road near Kanamai hailed the manufacturer for coming up with the production of PPEs and testing kits during this era of the pandemic.
He said the idea of manufacturing PPEs and COVID 19 Reagents together with all the 34 products was in line with President Uhuru Kenyatta's Big 4 agenda.
Kingi said when the pandemic struck the country there was no single company that was manufacturing PPEs, which forced the country to import from abroad.
He said currently the PPEs are available in Kenya including at the Revital Health care EPZ limited.
''When you look at the packaging there are different items including sanitizers, gloves, goggles, and those that cover shoes to prevent infection, '' he said.
The governor said as a county they had a hard time getting the PPEs as they depended on KEMSA to import and supply.
''The biggest challenge was lack of access to the VTMs, your business here is going to add to the much-needed arsenals in the fight against COVID 19,'' he said.
Kingi said it would be disheartening to see a Kenyan company with a capacity to produce those PPEs and still we import them from other countries.
He said it will also be disheartening to import VTMs and Swabs from other countries yet they are being manufactured locally and as per the global standards.
