Politician Patrick Mbangula, UDA nominated senator Tabitha Mutinda, Mwala MP Vincent Musyoka and ODM nominated Senator,Beth Syengo, at the boda boda empowerment event at Katse Vocational Training Centre in Mwingi North, Kitui county, on Thursday /Musembi NzenguA fresh war is looming between the national government and counties, with state planning to start supplying drugs directly to public hospitals.
Mwala MP Vincent Musyoka on Thursday revealed plans by the national government to ensure a seamless supply of medicines to health facilities across the country by empowering the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa) to deliver drugs directly to hospitals.
He said governors will soon be stripped of the responsibility of procuring medicines to curb drug shortage in public hospitals, a move that is likely to be vehemently opposed by the county chiefs.
“Because governors have failed to ensure consistent availability of drugs in our health facilities, we have resolved that there is no need to continue allocating them funds for drug acquisition,” Musyoka said on Thursday.
He urged governors to prioritise the welfare of Kenyans, warning that the persistent shortage of medicines was undermining the success of the Social Health Authority (SHA) programme.
“I want to humbly remind governors to be mindful of the welfare of our people. Some of them go around shouting ‘wantam’ and blaming President William Ruto, claiming SHA is not working. But the truth is, they have failed to ensure drugs are available,” the lawmaker said.
Mwala MP Vincent Musyoka leads other leaders in a jig at the boda boda empowerment event at Katse Vocational Training Centre in Mwingi North, Kitui county, on Thursday /Musembi NzenguMusyoka said Parliament has consistently allocated sufficient funds to counties for medicine procurement and there is no justification for patients being denied treatment in public hospitals.
Lamenting the chronic shortage of medicines, he revealed the government would re-route county drug procurement funds to Kemsa to supply medicines directly to all health facilities.
“We will channel the funds meant for drugs in the counties to Kemsa. Being the mandated supplier of medical commodities, Kemsa will ensure hospitals across the country receive medicine directly,” Musyoka said.
He further accused some health workers of diverting government-supplied drugs to their private pharmacies and directing patients to buy them there.
“They repackage government medicines and sell them in their private facilities. That is wrong and they should know we are aware of these schemes,” Musyoka claimed.
The MP spoke at Katse Vocational Training Centre in Mwingi North, Kitui county, where he presided over a boda boda operators’ empowerment event. He was hosted by nominated Senator Beth Syengo and Nairobi gubernatorial aspirant Patrick Mbangula.
During the event, Musyoka delivered Sh2 million from President Ruto and made a personal donation of Sh200,000. Other contributions included Sh100,000 from Syengo, Sh50,000 each from Senator Tabitha Mutinda and Masinga MP Joshua Mwalyo, and Sh20,000 from Mbangula.
