NAIROBI, Kenya May 31 – The Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) CEO Terry Ramadhani has assured pharmaceutical, nursing and medical stakeholders that reforms at the Authority have started in earnest.
The reforms, she said, will be geared at repositioning KEMSA as an effective health products and technologies (HPTs) supply chain solutions provider in the local public healthcare space.
Speaking when she received a delegation from the Pharmaceutical Society of Kenya (PSK), Kenya Medical Association (KMA), Kenya Dentists Association and the National Nurses Association of Kenya (NNA-Kenya), Ms Ramadhani said the Authority is banking on the support of its stakeholders and will maintain a consultative approach in its operating model.
The delegation that paid the KEMSA CEO a courtesy call included PSK Chairperson Dr Louis Machogu, PSK CEO Dr Daniella Munene, KMA President Dr Were Onyino, NNA-Kenya National 2nd Vice Chairperson Mr Dennis Ngao Mbithi and KDA President Dr Tim Theuri.
Following her recent appointment, Ms Ramadhani shared her three-pronged approach, which will focus on operational excellence, superior customer experience and organizational repositioning to meet stakeholder needs.
“The KEMSA management and staff teams are working hard to drive operational excellence by ensuring that we provide effective and efficient services to our customers,” Ms Ramadhani said. She added that “On this reform journey, we will walk together with our stakeholders to foster trust while we continue to ensure that we are responsive to their needs.”
Speaking on behalf of the Pharmaceutical and Medical Stakeholders, PSK Chairperson Dr Daniella Munene reiterated the professional stakeholders’ commitment to facilitating reforms at KEMSA.
She stressed that healthcare professionals have a social contract to ensure good health outcomes and will continue to champion the interests of the general public they continue to serve.
Healthcare professionals working at KEMSA, Dr Munene said, will continue to uphold their professional ethics to guarantee organizational effectiveness.
“We have had a fruitful engagement with KEMSA, and we are reassured that KEMSA is on a restructuring path to meet its statutory mandate,” Dr Munene said. She added that “as healthcare stakeholders, we commit to working together with KEMSA teams to provide technical and professional support and ensure that the reforms are smoothly implemented.”
The reforms at KEMSA have continued to gain steam, with the Authority successfully managing to reduce its order turnaround time (TAT) from 46 days in February 2021 to 14 days at the end of April 2022. The Authority is also on course to collect more than Kshs 2.7 Billion owed by County governments as part of a stakeholder engagement-focused credit management strategy.
Under the new KEMSA Credit management strategy, the Authority has set a target to collect at least Kshs 500million monthly in outstanding dues from county governments to boost its service delivery capacity.
