GTB Scanlab is improving access to quality and affordable diagnostic services in Kenya.
Accessing medical diagnostic services is difficult in many parts of Africa, where patients often have to travel long distances and spend scarce resources to reach quality radiology and laboratory facilities. Kenya-based GTB Scanlab Diagnostic Services is improving that situation, with four sites offering state-of-the-art ultrasound, MRI, mammography, CT scan, and laboratory services. “We’ve been able to bridge the gap of access to quality and affordable diagnostic services, ensuring that money that would have been spent by families to travel far for the same services is saved, and that a timely diagnosis is made, thus saving lives,” says Scanlab’s managing director and cofounder, Brian Bwombuna. “We’re also enlisted by the National Health Insurance Fund, which means most patients are able to use the services without having to pay out of pocket.”
Scanlab also offers radiological interventional medical procedures, participates in community health forums, and offers increased access to services via a team of mobile phlebotomists. “I’ve always had a passion for entrepreneurship, and sought to use my skills as a radiologist to address the challenges that exist in access to quality medical diagnostic services in rural and peri-urban areas in Kenya,” Bwombuna says. “My idea was to set up close to the people who required the services.”
Leadership
Brian Bwombuna is the managing director and cofounder of GTB Scanlab Diagnostic Services, which operates in four locations in Nakuru and Eldoret, Kenya. Prior to opening Scanlab in 2013, Bwombuna worked as a specialist radiologist at the Aga Khan Hospital in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and as a consultant radiologist at Medanta Africare in Nairobi. He has a special interest in musculoskeletal radiology, cross-sectional body imaging, and cancer imaging. He’s served as treasurer of the Kenya Society of Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology, and as a part-time lecturer at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology radiography program.
Bwombuna holds a bachelor of medicine and surgery degree from Nairobi University and a master’s degree in imaging and diagnostic radiology from Aga Khan University. In his rare spare time, he enjoys travel, soccer, and farming.
Bwombuna participated in the Seed Transformation Program in East Africa in 2016.