It’s a shame for public hospitals to lack medicines

Cumulatively, counties owe the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa) Sh2.8 billion, being the total cost of drugs supplied to them.

Kemsa has warned that unless the debt is cleared, it will stop further drug supplies.

While devolution has been hailed as the answer to our unique regional challenges, partially devolving the health sector has come at a cost. It is perhaps the only devolved function that still hasn’t found firm footing within counties.

No other sector has experienced disruptions more than health.

Consequently, persistent strikes by medical personnel have negatively impacted service delivery in this area. In the midst of all the agitation for better pay and working conditions, county hospitals not only operate with skeletal staff, they lack stocks of basic medicines.

There have been numerous cases in which patients are compelled to buy prescribed medicines from private pharmacies.

Indeed, many public hospitals don’t even have ordinary painkillers.  

The urgency to give priority to matters of health in line with the Universal Health Care (UHC) goals, which Kenya hopes to attain by 2022, cannot be overemphasised. UHC envisages that citizens should be able to access quality health care easily, and at a cost that is not a burden to them.

UHC is also part of the Big Four Agenda that President Uhuru Kenyatta hopes will cement his legacy.

When counties put more emphasis on allowances and unnecessary benchmarking trips abroad and less on essential services like health, it means they have their priorities upside down.

A robust economy is dependent on a healthy workforce, which means counties should not allow anything to interfere with matters of health. It’s shameful for hospitals to lack drugs.