•The county boss vowed to personally receive the consignment and oversee the distribution to seal any loopholes that might lead to theft.
•Kemsa said they are focusing on mutual engagements with the counties to unlock more than Sh2 billion of overdue pending bills.
Image: BENJAMIN NYAGAH
Embu residents will now be able to access drugs in the health facilities from the end of this week.
This is after Embu Governor Cecily Mbarire struck a deal with the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority to clear the Sh47 million pending bill left by the previous administration.
The governor met with the Kemsa chief executive Terry Ramadhani on Tuesday in an effort to ensure supplies of drugs to health facilities in the county resume.
Mbarire paid Sh35.8 million of the bill and committed to clear the remaining balance in due course.
The move made Kemsa release a drug consignment to the county.
The county boss vowed to personally receive the consignment and oversee the distribution to seal any loopholes that might lead to theft.
This she said, will include putting in place measures to track the daily usage of the drugs.
“We will expect daily updates from all the facilities on drug usage that will also go a long way in informing when to replenish the stocks,” she said.
Barely a week after they took the oath of office, a majority of county bosses have been racing to create a rapport with Kemsa to ensure the resumption of medical supplies.
On Tuesday, Murang’a Governor Irungu Kang’ata blamed what he termed cartels for the ailing health sector in the county noting that he will lock out those who benefit from sourcing drugs from private entities aside Kemsa.
Murang’s owes Kemsa Sh35 million leading to the authority freezing its accounts.
“Kemsa is not a profit-making entity. I have had an engagement with the CEO and we have agreed that our accounts will be unfrozen,” he said.
To further address the challenges in the health sector, Mbarire formed a six-member taskforce chaired by retired former director of Medical Services at the Ministry of Health Dr Francis Kimani.
The task force will come up with proposals and solutions aimed at reforming the ailing health system in the county for better health outcomes.
“The team has the liberty to visit all the health facilities on a fact-finding mission to establish what is ailing the public health sector and come up with short and long-term solutions,” the county boss said.
Last week, Ramadhani said the authority is focusing on mutual engagements with the county governments to help unlock more than Sh2 billion of overdue pending bills from several counties.
The speedy settlement of pending bills are expected to help the agency fast track pending payments to its suppliers, as well as boost the national scale of the Universal Health Coverage agenda.
"The authority is prioritising service provision for county governments as a key client segment. Indeed, counties at Kemsa are enjoying a red carpet level of services," he said.
"We are sparing no effort to ensure we meet their last mile medical supplies needs as best as we can."
The authority has in recent months collected more than Sh2.7 billion overdue pending bills owed by county governments through a stakeholder engagement-focused credit management strategy.
Under the new Kemsa credit management strategy, the authority has set a target to collect at least Sh500 million monthly in outstanding dues from county governments that have committed to unfreeze their accounts.
Pending bills owed to the Kemsa by counties for supplies dropped from Sh3.9 billion to Sh2.7 billion after nine counties were given a clean bill of health after clearing their outstanding bills.
They are Kilifi, Nakuru, Laikipia, Nyeri, Meru, West Pokot, Turkana, Kisii and Makueni.
Ramadhani on Thursday said the authority will be focusing on key performance indicators such as optimum order fill rates and a less than seven days turnaround time.
(Edited by Tabnacha O)