Medical authorities in Kitui have expressed frustration over delays in Covid-19 test results dispatched to Kemri in Nairobi.
It takes up to two weeks for results to be returned to Kitui.
However, Kemri officials in Nairobi told the Star the delay has now been resolved, having been caused by lack of automated machines to process the samples.
County chief officer of Health Richard Muthoka on Tuesday said although the numbers of Kitui residents infected with Covid-19 are rising, Kemri is not returning results of samples in good time.
“We have been forced to wait for up to 10 days and at times for two weeks to get results for samples sent to Kemri. This is happening despite the fact that the numbers of new infections are rising especially in schools. Contact tracing is also rendered irrelevant,” Muthoka said.
He spoke to the media following the death of the principal of Museve Secondary School in Kitui Central who succumbed to Covid-19 last weekend.
Kemri said the manual machines processed about 200 samples daily. "We have now received automated machines which can process more than 1,000 samples daily," an official told the Star.
The head teacher of Kithumula Primary School in Matinyani subcounty is in home care after contracting the virus.
Kitui county director of Education Salesa Abudo said samples from a certain school in the county were taken to Kemri but “a month down the line, results have not been delivered.”
“We are in a very tricky state of affairs. The numbers of infections are obviously rising but Kemri are not helping matters by delaying the results of Covid-19 test samples sent to them. We are in a quagmire,” Muthoka said.
Edited by Henry Makori
