Slovak Republic Donates COVID-19 Testing Kits To Kenyan Public Hospitals 

SlovakAid, a humanitarian relief program of the Republic of Slovakia have today donated 50,000 diagnostic tests, aimed at alleviating the effects of Covid-19 in Kenya.

The humanitarian aid worth about Kshs 27 million, includes 1 PCR thermocycler device to perform the tests and 20,000 FFP2 respirators as well as 1,800 litres of hand sanitiser, among other supplies.

Speaking during the handover ceremony held at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Chief Administrative Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Mercy Mwangangi, said the country continues to face difficulties of the COVID-19 pandemic with over 93 per cent of counties having reported positive cases as of July 25, 2020.

“This donation will enhance community engagement efforts in the management and control of COVID-19, even as we implement home-based care. It will also complement Government efforts in the provision of medical supplies while improving the capacity of the health workforce for COVID-19, infection prevention,” said Mercy.

Funded by global internet security company ESET, the PCR test kit – vDetectCOVID-19 RT-qPCR – was approved by the Slovak Republic’s State Institute for Drug Control (ŠUKL) on May 14, 2020. It was developed through the collaborative research of scientists from the Slovak company MultiplexDX and registered in the European Database on Medical devices (EUDAMED), on May 26, 2020, for distribution in Europe as a CE-marked in vitro diagnostic test.

Ken Kimani, Channel Manager for ESET East Africa, said the firm, with a history of research and technology innovation in internet systems and data security, had invested over Kes 17 million in the development of the vDetect COVID-19 RT-qPCR, for human testing for the Coronavirus.

ESET has since the COVID-19 pandemic also extended various support initiatives for local businesses and consumers through the provision of internet security technologies aimed at encouraging a safe and secure work-from-home culture for individuals, businesses, and schools.

“We have extended the free trial period of ESET Internet Security from 30 days to 90 days for our consumer markets. For businesses, we have extended the 90-day trials of ESET Endpoint Protection Cloud for up to 250 Seats also to include the ESET Secure Authentication,” said Kimani.

Speaking at the event, Frantisek Dlhopolcek, the Slovak Republic Ambassador and Head of Mission, said Kenya is the first country to receive the PCR tests through the Slovak Humanitarian Aid. The second donation is destined for Lebanon in September 2020.

“Kenya is one of the three development cooperation program countries of the Slovak Republic and our strategic partner in Sub-Saharan Africa. Since the pandemic started, the Slovak Republic has provided about 12 grants worth Kshs 14.5 million to nine county governments and three Non-Governmental Organisations aimed at improving the Covid-19 crisis in the country,” said Frantisek.

The projects are targeted on purchasing medical equipment like beds for hospitals, thermometers, face masks, gloves, gowns, sanitisers, and other medical essentials.