Kenya's health ministry said Monday it will undertake rigorous scrutiny on anti-virus medical supplies produced locally in order to minimize risks to patients and frontline healthcare workers.

Rashid Aman, chief administrative secretary in the Ministry of Health, said that personal protective equipment and therapeutics manufactured locally will be subjected to heightened scrutiny to avert potential harm to Covid-19 patients and health care workers.

"We have established stringent measures to ensure that supply of quality, safe and efficacious health products and technologies is an integral part of Covid-19 fight in the country," Aman said at a briefing in Nairobi. 

He said that regulatory agencies have constantly evaluated safety and effectiveness of anti-Covid-19 supplies like face masks, hand sanitizers and medicines to ensure they meet the World Health Organization (WHO) approved quality benchmarks.

"The pharmacy and poisons board has since April carried out quality analysis on alcohol-based sanitizers and surgical masks circulating in the Kenyan market and found they had complied with globally recognized quality standards, "said Aman. 

He said that regulatory agencies are currently undertaking surveillance on locally manufactured personal protective gear in the western Kenyan counties to help ascertain their quality. 

"We are also conducting studies to assess the safety and effectiveness of medical products meant to combat the Covid-19 disease," said Aman. "The data obtained in this important study will contribute greatly to management of the pandemic," he added.

The Kenyan official said that requests for clinical trials for Covid-19 vaccines and therapeutics by pharmaceutical companies will only be approved subject to compliance with the domestic regulatory systems. 

Aman said the government has prioritized regulatory reforms coupled with investments in modern technology and skilled manpower to boost local production of quality anti-Covid-19 supplies. 

"The government has instituted internationally acceptable measures to fast-track authorization of treatments and diagnostics to combat the Covid-19 disease," said Aman.

Meanwhile, Kenya's total Covid-19 caseload hit 35,205 on Monday after 102 people tested positive to the disease out of a sample size of 2,668. Kenya's total fatalities arising from Covid-19 hit 599 after two patients succumbed to the disease in the last 24 hours.