Alarm raised over labs run by quacks

By ALLY JAMAH

Kenya: The number of dubious laboratory results being churned out by laboratories operated by quacks around the country is on the rise, risking the health of many Kenyans.

Many of these labs are offering their services illegally through pharmacies and exposing patients to high risks of receiving treatment based on wrong lab results. Last year, there was a public outcry after medics attributed increasing cases of wrong HIV and Aids results to such labs.

Such unlicensed labs, often operate in the back rooms of chemists, are also manned by quack personnel. A survey by The Standard on pharmacies in Nairobi’s Upper Hill area, Ngummo, Eastlands and Kawangware, revealed that many pharmacies are advertising lab services.

Fool patients

Many of those facilities did not have Kenya Medical Laboratory Technicians and Technologists Board (KMLTTB) licences visibly displayed as required by law.

Many such facilities often prefer to hide behind pharmacies rather than independent premises to escape attention and fool patients easily.

Acting KMLTTB Chief Executive Officer Patrick Kisabei said many pharmacies are offering lab services illegally to increase revenues, oblivious of the risks they expose patients to. KMLTTB is the regulatory body of medical laboratories run by laboratory technicians and technologists and it has the sole mandate to register and license private laboratories that must meet certain standards to be allowed to operate. He said such labs are taking advantage of desperate patients to entice them to their lab services, since tests for common diseases such as malaria, typhoid and HIV are in high demand.

“We advise Kenyans to seek services of licensed laboratories only. That is the only way to protect themselves from quacks who might ruin their health. The threat is real,” he said.

Defrauding Kenyans

“Some of these quacks don’t even have qualified technologists or relevant equipment necessary to conduct laboratory tests. This means they are defrauding Kenyans by issuing fake lab results,” he added.

Kenya Pharmaceutical Association Secretary General Ello Mapelo, whose organisation brings together pharmacists and pharmaceutical technologists, admitted that the problem was rife and Kenyans are at risk.

He said the problem is mainly in unlicensed pharmacies, which are also offering unlicensed lab services. Mapelo said the association is working on branding all licensed pharmacies to enable Kenyans access certified pharmaceutical services that exclude laboratory services that fall under KMLTTB regulation.

“This is a big problem but we have begun to weed out quack pharmacies as well as laboratories operating in those pharmacies. We cannot afford to wait any longer since they pose a huge health risk,” he said.