"Russia is known to produce things that are balanced in quality and price," CEO of Kenyan JM-Qafri Methuselah company, Claire Atieno Otieno, commented on Russian mobile medical complexes.
Atieno praised the "good and advanced" quality of the complexes, which are to be supplied to Kenya by Russia under a memorandum of understanding signed by the two countries' companies in late May.
The mobile medical complexes, mostly equipped with diagnostic equipment, would be a "perfect solution" for Kenyans living in rural areas who don't have access to hospitals, Atieno told Sputnik Africa.
"The function is preventative medicine. So we're planning, or rather, we're creating, a strategy to manage diseases like HIV, AIDS, and diabetes, and we also want to focus on prenatal care for mothers and infants," she said on the sidelines of SPIEF-2024.
The CEO emphasized that these complexes would benefit not only Kenya but also other African countries and the world.
Commenting on the Russia-Africa cooperation in medicine, Atieno noted that "Russia has presented Africa with an opportunity to be independent in making its own choices."
"When we worked before with Western countries, you do not get to decide what you want. [...] You don't get what you're paying for, right? But when it comes to Russia it's like a new, like a fresh start for not just African countries but for other countries that could collaborate with Russia," she highlighted.
She underlined that this could be said about not only cooperation in medicine but also in mining, oil and gas, and many other sectors.
As for other initiatives in terms of Russia-Africa cooperation in medicine, seven Russian mobile laboratories, which help to detect any infectious disease, were delivered to several African countries, including Burundi, Uganda, and the Republic of Congo, according to Russian consumer watchdog Rospotrebnadzor.