NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 19 – The nominee for Health, Susan Nakhumicha has now pledged to use a bottom-up approach to deal with the rot and inefficiencies in the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (KEMSA) that has been riddled with corruption.
Nakhumicha during her vetting before the committee on appointment Wednesday told Members of Parliament that the problem facing KEMSA in the supply of medical supplies to counties is in the measurement of acquiring the supplies.
She faulted the authority for procuring medical supplies on behalf of the National and county government without proper confirmation of the actual needs and gaps in the health facilities.
“At Kemsa they do a push system where the stocks are pushed down to the facilities while the facilities are supposed to be pulling from Kemsa. This means the quantification are being done from the upper level,” she said.
The health nominee who esteems having worked at Kemsa as an Intern and previously worked at MEDs – a faith-based institution – she elaborated that the quantification of medical supplies should be done after acquiring the requirement from hospitals before tendering.
“I am happy because in Kenya Kwanza we are talking about bottom up therefore the facilities will be bringing their quantities and out that quantification is done,” Nakhumicha told MPs.
Nakhumicha stated that laxity in KEMSA has led to the loss of taxpayers money due to over quotation of drugs that are not being absorbed by medical facilities due to oversupply.
“That’s why in KEMSA you hear expiry of drugs, obsolete because of poor quantification. So we shall start right by supporting Kemsa by ensuring that they do proper quantification,” she said.
Time and again Kenyans are treated to the spectacle of rot at KEMSA when it comes to public procurement with the latest being the scandal involving the Covid-19 kits.
The past reveals that Kenya is doing badly in procurement hygiene.
The situation in the health institution has been so dire that in 2004 the government sent home all the procurement officers in the institution and recruited new ones with the hope of redeeming subsequent procurement of medical supplies.
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