ICL Ethiopia, Cerba Lancet Africa Partner to Expand their Pathology Services
ADDIS ABABA – ICL Ethiopia, a local private clinical lab, and Cerba Lancet Africa, one of the major players in medical diagnosis in the continent, have signed a strategic partnership deal to expand their pathology and diagnostic services in Ethiopia and beyond.
Cerba Lancet Africa is majority owned by the French group Cerba HealthCare which operates a network of medical biology laboratories globally.
Its 1,600 employees are providing access to diagnosis and care to almost 3 million people yearly in 15 African countries.
Cerba Lancet Africa says it has now partnered ICL Ethiopia to further expand its presence in the continent after acquiring Medpharm Holdings Africa which has operations in Ethiopia through its ICL branch.
“This partnership reflects our desire to develop the existing diagnostic offering in Africa, meeting the needs of the greatest number of people across the continent,” said Cerba Lancet Africa CEO Stéphane Carré.
“We share with the ICL management team the same desire to actively and continually upgrade the clinical pathology services in Ethiopia to enable healthcare providers to deliver essential medical support to patients throughout the country,” he added.
According to the CEO, the partnership will not only allow ICL to bolster “its unique position in Ethiopia but also serve thousands of patients” from surrounding countries including Somalia, Djibouti and South Sudan.
After starting its operation in 2004, ICL Ethiopia has become among the leading diagnostic laboratories in Ethiopia with 350 employees.
Its Chief Executive Director Dr Tamrat Bekele said the lab would expand its service and continue to provide quality tests to the population of Ethiopia and the surrounding region with the help of the new partnership.
ICL Ethiopia officials are also keen to leverage the range of Cerba HealthCare expertise and its existing Cerba Lancet Africa network to sustainably meet the diagnostic tool expectations of patients, physicians and hospitals nationwide.
Joining the Cerba HealthCare network “will allow us to tap into the huge resources and expertise of Cerba HealthCare,” Dr Tamrat said.
The lab, particularly, plans to utilise
Cerba HealthCare’s expertise in the field of oncology, genetics, companion diagnostics, as well as preventive medicine and physician education and research “to tackle unique and challenging issues”.
“This new foundation will allow us to expand our test menu and offer unique services and tests that will contribute to the growth of the country’s health care system,” said the executive director.
ICL Ethiopia has served more than 3 million patients over the past 17 years.
