US health equipment maker eyes business in counties

Guided Therapeutics, a US-based health equipment manufacturer, is targeting more business in the counties, after bagging its first local contract from the Nairobi government.

The company received its first order to supply and install cancer screening equipment at Mbagathi District Hospital worth Sh3.2 million in May.

Robert Ayisi, Nairobi health services chief officers, said one machine has been installed at the hospital with more devices on the way.

“We have installed one machine at Mbagathi Hospital but we want five more,” said Dr Ayisi.

Guided Therapeutics' management said it expects bigger orders from the Kenyan market which is set to be a major contributor to its 2015 sales that are estimated to hit Sh300 million.

“We believe this is the first step to what could be a very significant order for the company based on the money that has been budgeted by Nairobi County. There is the potential that later this quarter or in the third quarter to begin to expand to six additional facilities in the county, which would require 10 to 12 units with up to 10,000 patients per month being screened,” said Guided Therapeutics chief executive Gene Cartwright in a statement.

The company estimates there are some 1.5 million women in Nairobi eligible to use its devices for early screening of cervical cancer.

More sales are expected in other counties and the entire region.

“Our partner, Stem World Enterprises, is optimistic that the screening programme will be expanded in 2015 and in turn should support inroads in other parts of the developing world. Nairobi County is just one of 47 counties in Kenya and what Kenya’s capital does is often followed elsewhere in the country and in East Africa,” said Mr Cartwright.