Kenyan counties procuring substandard drugs for "cut"

NAIROBI: A National Assembly committee has expressed concern that county government officials were allegedly procuring substandard medical drugs at inflated prices from private suppliers to get a "cut".

Members of the Health Committee led by Dr Rachael Nyamai said some counties were bypassing the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa) yet it was offering the best deals.

"We suspect that county officials are being lured by financial inducements to procure drugs from private suppliers even though they are getting substandard products," Nyamai said Thursday at the Kemsa warehouses in Nairobi's Embakasi when the committee visited the premises.

Kemsa CEO John Munyu told legislators that currently, counties purchase 65 per cent of their medical supplies through Kemsa with the rest being sourced from other suppliers.

He said that Kemsa was able to offer counties a wide selection of drugs at relatively low prices since it purchased drugs in bulk from suppliers.

"We do not want counties to be compelled by the law to come to Kemsa because that is not sustainable. We want them to be attracted by the goods and services we offer them," said Munyu.

Some counties have claimed that Kemsa supplies substandard drugs and often delays in delivering them, an accusation that was denied by Kemsa officials.

Currently, counties are allowed to choose where and how they purchase their drugs and Kemsa is facing stiff competition from other suppliers for the huge and lucrative market offered by the 47 counties.

The committee heard that in the last financial year, Kemsa supplied Sh2.2 billion worth of essential medical drugs to counties.