• Nyoike says the last time they received kits from the supplier was four months ago.
• With self-testing kits, patients can test themselves in the comfort of their homes without a second person witnessing the results.
There has been a shortage of HIV self-testing kits at the Kiambu Level 5 Hospital since April following an increase of patients seeking the service.
Elizabeth Nyoike, a HIV-Aids attendant at the hospital, urged the government to intervene.
“The last time we received kits from the supplier was four months ago and since then, we have been carrying out the normal procedures only,” she said.
“We dispensed 75 gadgets in July. The number then increased to 130 by October and by February this year, over 200 kits had been given to the public,” Nyoike said.
Nyoike said the testing kits are important because patients do not have to wait in long queues at health facilities for the nurse to physically test them.
With self-testing kits, patients can test themselves in the comfort of their homes without a second person witnessing the results.
The shortage has changed the scenario as patients have to physically avail themselves at the hospital where a full diagnosis is carried out to ascertain their status.
The gadgets are not just given to anyone who visits the centre and requests for them without proper advice, she said.
“We issue the kits to a specific target audience to curb wastage,” Nyoike said.
Before being issued with the kits, the patients are first counselled and then trained on how to operate them.
Nyoike said the gadgets are mostly meant for locals who fear revealing their status while in the presence of medical practitioners.
Kiambu hospital administrator Eston Mbuthia said the National AIDS and STIs Control Programme (Nascop) has not been supplying the self-testing kits for a couple of months.
“Before the supply gets to us, we urge residents to seek the normal procedure if they need their HIV status checked,” the administrator said.
Nascop was established in 1987 to spearhead the Ministry of Health’s interventions in the fight against HIV/Aids.
It operates as a unit within the Ministry of Health and is mainly involved with technical coordination of HIV/Aids programmes in Kenya.