The Board of directors of the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) recently held a meeting with the Kisumu health county team to seek ways of unlocking challenges hindering delivery of health products and technologies (HPTs).
The KEMSA team led by Mary Mwadime and Dr. Emma Obegi of Kisumu County Pharmacist resolved to review all areas of concern including debts amounting to Ksh. 41 million. This is aimed at ensuring orders placed by Kisumu County are handled expeditiously.
According to KEMSA, most challenges faced by the authority are systematic and will be addressed through the reforms announced by the board, including organizational restructuring.
“One of the main issues we are grappling with is the matter of having proper quantification to enable us to serve you better,” explained Ms. Mwadime.
She further emphasized on the importance of county governments to settle their debts and ensure a smooth execution of duties.
Dr. Obegi explained that the county government is keen on working with KEMSA but urged for improvement in the order fill rate for timely delivery of orders.
“We are requesting that you bring together relevant teams to review the existing medical stocks to determine its relevance in healthcare. We have allocated Ksh. 80 million for purchasing HPTs for Rural Health Facilities and will appreciate if the orders are serviced to completion and all the centers get what they need to offer seamless service to Kisumu residents,” added Dr. Obegi.
Ms. Mwadime, reiterated that as staff work from home for the next 30 days, the authority is undertaking normal operations guided by a Business Continuity Plan (BCP).
The board is being assisted by a multi-agency operations team to handle logistics, human resource, quality assurance, physical and information security, among other dockets.