Hospital lab with subsidised charges eases pain of Taita-Taveta patients

Examining the Integra 400 blood chemistry machine. From left, Alice Juma, Lancet technical supervisor, Joeffry Kalema, Moi Referral Hospital head technologist and Jimmy Eggers, WWC special projects manager

By ALLY JAMAH

Taita-Taveta, Kenya: For thousands of residents of the expansive Taita-Taveta County, getting healthcare in public facilities has always been a nightmare partly due to absence of laboratory services.

Rundown public labs could only handle a few basic diseases. The high number of patients in the county relied on small private labs, which also couldn’t conduct even routine tests such as for heart attack, diabetes, cancers and bacterial infections.

They lacked proper equipment, and charged highly for tests such that many poor patients could not afford their services.

Patients would be forced by circumstances to undertake inconvenient and expensive journeys to Nairobi and Mombasa, hundreds of kilometres away, to get the lab services.

But now, patients in the county can breath a sigh of relief as the main lab at Moi County Referral Hospital,  Voi, one of the largest and busiest facilities  in the county,  has received a major upgrading and been equipped with the latest state-of-the-art equipment, thanks to a unique public-private partnership (PPP).

The new lab can comfortably test for a wide variety of diseases, eliminating the previous hassle and frustrations patients went through. The joint initiative has made quality lab services more affordable to residents since they are offered at subsidised rates.

Partnership initiative

The initiative is the product of a partnership between the Taita-Taveta County government, which is responsible for the hospital, and a forest-conservation organisation called Wildlife Works Carbon (WWC), together with Pathologists Lancet Kenya, a network of private clinical labs with presence across the country and the East African region.

Wildlife Works Carbon, which manages large blocs of forests in developing countries, took the initiative as part of giving back to the local community.

“We decided to finance the upgrading of lab services in the Voi hospital after realising it would have significant impact in boosting healthcare in the whole county,” says WWC’s James Eggers, a retired eye doctor from the USA who manages forest conservation in Rukinga Wildlife Sanctuary in the county.

He adds: “During our consultations, it emerged that poor lab services in the county was a priority concern for many residents. So we decided to invest in it.”

On its part, Pathologists Lancet Kenya Limited, with its expertise in clinical laboratory work locally and internationally, got involved in the initiative as a technical and co-funding partner after being approached by WWC, who were initially seeking technical advice.

The   project is built around a Build, Operate and Transfer model, where WWC partners with Lancet to operate the lab to international standards then transfer capacity for the management of the lab to the hospital administration after a defined period as negotiated with the county government.

Lancet’s responsibility in the partnership is not only advice on the technical aspects of the lab such as maintaining the new machines but also to co-fund operations of the upgraded lab services.

Modern services

“We are providing free state-of-the-art computerised laboratory information system, automated analytical platforms, remote pathology supervision, standardised laboratory reporting and continuous training to the county government personnel working in the lab,” says Ahmed Kalebi, managing director of Lancet.

Lancet is also providing expertise in business management of the laboratory to ensure it is managed professionally, so that it can sustain itself, despite charging subsidised prizes.

“We expect more patient traffic to offset the lower prices,” adds Dr Kalebi.

To help keep the prices of services down, Lancet supplies lab stocks and reagents at lower than market rates as part of its obligation in the partnership.

Taita-Taveta County Executive for Health Gifton Mkaya sees the ground-breaking initiative as a God-send, saying it is playing a big role in their efforts to uplift healthcare in the county through the PPP model.

This multi-million shilling initiative is crucial. A recent report by the World Health Organisation asserts that quality laboratory services are key component in boosting healthcare.

The new lab is a fully automated biochemistry analyser that can run over 400 various tests an hour. It also has machines to test for blood cancer, blood clotting, heart attack risks, tuberculosis and bacterial infection, among other conditions.