All orders procedurally placed with the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) will be promptly processed and dispatched to clients in less than a week, Acting Chief Executive Officer Mr Edward Njoroge has assured.

Speaking at an event to mark the dispatch of a Kshs 64 Million order placed last week by the Kitui County Government, Njoroge reiterated that to boost operating efficiency, the Authority is banking on its superior supply chain management experience and infrastructure including warehousing and robust information technology systems.

While recognising County Governments countrywide as KEMSA’s single largest customer cluster, Njoroge confirmed that the Authority had adopted a decentralised distribution channels model. A Premier dedicated customer service team is also assigned the responsibility of handling orders from the devolved units to guarantee swift turnaround times.

Flanked by Kitui County Government Governor Charity Ngilu, at the flag off of 17 trucks headed to the county, the KEMSA team leader discounted claims that the Authority lacks the capacity to supply drugs and products that the devolved units need.

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“All County Governments from Nairobi to the ones in far-flung areas can rest assured that KEMSA has the necessary capacity to service all procedurally placed orders for delivery within seven days or less,” Njoroge said. He added that “Our clients can rest assured that all KEMSA staff members are fully committed to the transformation of the Authority to a customer responsive last-mile Health Products, and Technologies (HPTs) supplies agency.”

The order placed by Kitui County Government features pharmaceuticals, non-pharmaceuticals, laboratory, and renal consumables to be distributed to more than 298 health facilities. All the items will be delivered directly to the respective health centres by KEMSA.

As part of KEMSA’s transformation strategy, the Authority, he said, has already established and sufficiently resourced its four decentralised distribution centres located in Kisumu, Mombasa, Meru and Nairobi. Through the decentralised system, KEMSA’s Kisumu distribution zone serves nineteen counties. Mombasa serves six counties, and Meru serves 11 counties in the Northern frontier, with other counties served from the Nairobi central stores.

On her part, Kitui Governor Charity Ngilu described KEMSA services and solutions as cost-efficient and professional.

“Kitui County Government appreciates the support extended by KEMSA in ensuring that we continue to enjoy cost-efficient and professional services to keep all our health facilities up and running,” Ngilu said. She added that “Today, we are flagging off a Kshs 64 million consignment placed just last week with KEMSA. This is testimony that KEMSA has the necessary capacity to meet our needs within a reasonable turnaround time.”

Under a dedicated operating model tuned to ensure on-time supply of crucial medical supplies, KEMSA has maintained a more than 98% service availability level to more than 8,000 public health centres in the 47 counties countrywide.

KEMSA is known for quality services thanks to the commitment of our suppliers, who adhere to strict quality assurance standards. Within the Authority’s reform agenda, Njoroge said KEMSA has activated supplier performance measurement tools to raise the quality standards to world-class benchmarks and ensure value for money to the Kenyan taxpayer.

KEMSA has re-engineered many of its financial management and procurement processes to guarantee excellence by providing critical assurance of ethical conduct to its stakeholders. “All our stakeholders can rest assured that we have instituted various covert and overt oversight frameworks to guard against the loss of taxpayers and donor funds through procurement processes manipulation,” Njoroge said.

Having undertaken extensive integrity adjustments at KEMSA, prospective suppliers to the Authority, including local manufacturers and disadvantaged groups (AGPO), are required to maintain very high ethical operating standards.