By Nancy Juma
The Board of Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) currently on a working tour of Kisumu and the Lake Region Economic Bloc Counties today met with Governor Prof. Anyang’ Nyong’o at his office.
Kemsa the sole supplier to both national and county facilities with pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical products is touring counties to take stock of the prevailing conditions following the ravaging effects of Covid -19 pandemic that government is still struggling to manage.
The Board led by the Chairman Hon. Kembi Gitura informed the Governor of the ongoing restructuring at the organization to improve service delivery.
As part of this reorganization, the KEMSA Board has operationalized the Kisumu regional distribution centre that will be a focal distribution point of the Health Products and Technologies (HPTs) to 20 Counties in the western region. This is meant to strengthen the supply chain and ensure that orders are serviced in good time.
Governor Nyong’o, the Council of Governors Health Committee Chairman lauded the Board for the good relations between Kemsa and the counties adding that the relationship has ensured that health facilities orders at the counties are promptly serviced even when there are delays with disbursements from the National Treasury to the counties.
“This Regional Distribution Centre is a welcome development as it will greatly cut the turnaround time for servicing orders from the region’s facilities”, said the Governor.
He however voiced his concerns about the stock capacity at KEMSA. This has manifested where county orders are only serviced to 70% at a time due to stock outages.
The Chairman Sen. Kembi-Gitura assured the Governor that they are taking the matter of stock re-order levels very seriously and that they have put measures in place to ensure that orders are serviced in entirety. He decried delayed payments which impact on planning strategies.
“The KEMSA board is working to ensure that we have all the Essential Medicines and Medical Supplies in stock,” he said.
Mr. Kembi was accompanied by Directors Mary Owino, Dr. Dorothy Aywak, Dr. Bibiana Njue, Mr. Joel Lesuda, Dr. Josephat Mbuva and the Acting CEO Mr. Edward Njoroge.
