Kemsa empowers counties to place drugs orders in advance

NAIROBI: The Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa) will provide counties with list of drugs that can be ordered in advance.

The move will ensure medical supplies do not run out in hospitals across the country.

Kemsa Chief Executive Officer John Munyu said the authority had been holding consultations with counties on how best to streamline their commodity data requests.

"Currently, we procure stocks after the counties have made their orders. However, with an official list, we can ensure we stock the drugs before they are ordered as per the needs of each county," Mr Munyu said.

He said devolution of health services has been a success because counties were now able to order the drugs they needed.

Munyu was speaking in Nyeri town where the authority met with health representatives of 16 counties from Central and Eastern regions to discuss the challenges faced in working with the medical supplier.

The meeting was the forth in a series of others held in Mombasa, Nakuru and Kisumu to discuss service delivery.

"Since devolution, Kemsa has increased its data volumes by 50 per cent meaning supplies are well utilised," he said.