The government has been urged to incorporate Biomedical Scientists at the technical committee level in the management of the coronavirus pandemic, since they have the technical knowledge of making saline that could be used in hospitals to stabilize dehydrated patients.
A Biomedical Scientist from Egerton University, Clarence Mang’era said that in a pandemic, they were crucial since they were experts in designing machines for diagnosing medical problems, repairing and installing diagnostic equipment. He was speaking today during an interview with KNA on phone.
Mang’era said modern medicine was becoming more and more technology-oriented hence the need to involve them in the proficient and skillful management of COVID-19 cases.
He stated that biomedical scientists were also responsible for investigating and diagnosing patient illnesses such as HIV/AIDS, cancer, diabetes, hepatitis, meningitis and food poisoning.
However, he said, in this country they were often mistaken for medical laboratory personnel, who basically collect and analyse medical samples, while the former were specialized in medical research and the safety of medical equipment.
He commended the government for its intention to start testing the masses for the coronavirus and added that it was important in the identification of infected people and the earlier they were identified the easier it was to manage them.
He added that the biomedical scientists could play a vital role in assisting in testing for coronavirus cases, and to ease the congestion at the KEMRI laboratories, university labs could offer increased the testing centres if, only they were funded.
Coronavirus is a worldwide pandemic which was first reported in Wuhan China, where patient zero was a shrimp seller at a seafood market. The disease has killed thousands of people globally within a short time and Kenya currently has 50 confirmed cases.
By Veronica Bosibori
