Campaign Update — Day Three: Handing Over the Capability
The third day of the Hepatitis B and C screening campaign in Lamu County marked a shift in focus — from delivering diagnostics to transferring the ability to run them.
Training at the bench
County health workers and laboratory personnel from the Lamu County health department gathered around REME-D’s real-time PCR platform for hands-on instruction: sample loading, run setup, protocol selection, result interpretation, and troubleshooting.
The session was deliberately practical. Participants worked directly on the instrument rather than observing a demonstration, using the live campaign samples being processed that day.
Why this is the point
Outreach campaigns carry an inherent limitation. Teams arrive, equipment is deployed, patients are screened — and then the vehicles leave. Whatever diagnostic capacity existed in the county before the campaign is, in most cases, exactly what exists after it.
The alternative is to treat the campaign as a delivery mechanism for capability rather than a standalone event.
If county laboratory staff can operate the platform independently, order consumables through an established supply route, and access technical support when a run fails, then the diagnostic capacity survives the campaign. If they cannot, the equipment becomes an expensive object in a storeroom — an outcome common enough across the region to be worth naming.
This is why EQPAL Medical’s role extends beyond supply to servicing, maintenance, and training. A platform that no one locally can operate does not advance an elimination agenda, regardless of its specifications.
Building on earlier work
The training delivered on day three builds directly on the certified Scientific and Practical Training Programme our teams delivered earlier this year in partnership with the Ministry of Health and NASCOP, covering molecular diagnostic testing for Hepatitis B and C.
The intent across both is the same: that the counties we work in are more capable after we leave than before we arrived.
Ongoing
The campaign continues across remaining sites in Lamu and Mombasa counties.
Our thanks to the Ministry of Health, NASCOP, KEMRI, and the county health teams — and particularly to the laboratory staff who spent their day both running a live campaign and learning a new platform at the same time.
To discuss diagnostic solutions, medical supply, equipment training, or partnership opportunities, contact EQPAL Medical at eqpalmed@gmail.com or +254 748 009 000.
