Kenyans have just come out of a health crisis, but from the look of things we could be walking right into another.
The doctors' strike led to a paralysis of health services in public hospitals.
The country is now staring at lack of medical supplies in the same hospitals because of a Sh3 billion debt owed to the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority.
The Senate, which oversights counties, has ordered Kemsa to stop delivering medical supplies to counties.
Almost all the counties, save for Wajir, have accumulated massive debts at the state-owned medical supplier.
Some of the counties, among them Nairobi, Homa Bay, Taita Taveta, Makueni, Kakamega, Trans Nzoia and Kisumu, no longer buy drugs from Kemsa.
This is despite the current law mandating public entities, including counties, to strictly procure their health commodities from Kemsa.
Major defaulters include Nairobi, Machakos, Kilifi, Kitui and Tharaka Nithi.
Kemsa has not been the best service provider, but the reforms being undertaken by the new team are commendable and call for support from key clients, which are the counties.
Counties receive budgetary allocations for health supplies but unfortunately, this is at times diverted to other uses, leading to the accrued debts.
The Senate should however address the debt issue on a case-by-case basis and not institute a blanket punishment to all counties on account of the commission of others.
Quote of the Day: “Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world...would do this, it would change the earth.”
William Faulkner
The Nobel laureate's collection of short stories, 'Go Down, Moses', was published on May 11, 1942
