The Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) has confirmed the dispatch of assorted essential medical supplies all 47 counties countrywide as part of ongoing efforts to ensure the national scale-up of the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) programme.
According to KEMSA Acting Chief Executive Officer Mr John Kabuchi, the Authority has ensured what he described as an “above-average” order fulfilment rate for quality-assured essential medicines valued at more than Kshs 300 million in the last ten days.
Essential medicine consignments to 37 counties have been dispatched from Nairobi, while ten counties are set to receive their supplies from the KEMSA Kisumu Regional Distribution Centre.
The Authority, he said, is working flat out to ensure that essential medicines are delivered on time to more than 11,500 health centres spread in all the counties as their orders are received. Plans, he added, are underway to ensure the dispatch of essential medicines to several health facilities in Turkana, Nakuru, Kwale, Kisii, West Pokot and Marsabit, among other counties, early next week.
The orders already prepared and dispatched to all 47 counties include a consignment of SPF 50+ Sunscreen creams and lotions recommended for use by persons living with albinism, among other dermatological conditions.
Further, Antiretroviral (ARV) therapy drugs have been dispatched to 22 counties, including Embu, Kajiado, Nyeri, Wajir, Machakos, Mandera, Kilifi and Lamu.
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“We have stepped up supply chain efforts in the last ten days and successfully managed to maintain an above-average order fulfilment rate for essential medicines and more than 90% for Antiretroviral therapy (ARV) drugs,” Kabuchi said. He added, “All our teams at the Central Warehouses in Nairobi and the regional distribution centres are working flat out to guarantee last-mile deliveries.”
Within the national UHC Scale-up commitments, the Government has committed to ensuring 100% access to essential medicines for all Kenyans visiting public health centres. In the last financial year and towards the achievement of UHC, KEMSA procured Health Products and Technologies (HPTs) worth KShs. 35.84 billion, with the health facilities countrywide managing to draw down 97% of these commodities.
Following the success of the UHC pilot project in 2018, President Uhuru Kenyatta, on Monday last week, launched the national UHC Scale-Up, an essential delivery under the Government’s Big Four priority agenda. The KEMSA leadership currently spearheading the transformation process at the Authority welcomed the UHC national scale-up efforts and confirmed its organisational readiness to support the rollout of affordable healthcare for national development.