The city county government has paid Sh166.93 million to the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority.
The county in January committed to pay Sh 120 million pending bills. The Sh46 million was for new supply of drugs which will be dispatched at a later date agreed with the county’s health department.
“We are paying Sh120 million now which is the reconciled amount and we will ensure we clear the balance by the end of the financial year,” said Vesca Kangogo, former acting executive for health.
She said the county would start making orders quarterly to ensure facilities do not run out of drugs supplies.
The amount is part of the Sh 1.4 billion approved for clearance by the Pending Bills Committee and the office of the Auditor General.
The payment amounting to Sh166,927,266 million was done last week on Friday by finance executive Pauline Kahiga .
The last order by the county government and the last dispatch was made in last October. Drugs worth Sh66.93 million were distributed to the top four county hospitals and other health centers across the wards.
The dispatch was to last up to December 2019.
The four referral county hospitals, namely, Mama Lucy Hospital, Pumwani Maternity, Mbagathi and Mutuini have been making orders for drugs on a need basis and paying for the supplies.
Last December, the county paid Sh6 million for drugs for Pumwani.
On January 16, data from Kemsa showed that out of Sh2.8 billion owed by seven counties, Nairobi topped the list with a debt of Sh353 million.
Kilifi follows with a Sh199.1 million debt, Kiambu with Sh141.6 million, Busia Sh119.08 million and Vihiga Sh114.4 million.
However, the authority noted goodwill from counties like Nairobi, which has committed to clear the bills
Kemsa boss Jonah Manjari had said the authority has a service level agreement with counties and an MoU had been signed.
Supplies were halted after counties including Nairobi defaulted on payment to the parastatal.
In 2017, Kemsa stopped supplying medicine to Nairobi hospitals over a Sh285 million debt, forcing patients to buy drugs and other medical supplies from private hospitals and chemists.
It took the intervention of President Uhuru Kenyatta and the former Health Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki for Kemsa to resume supplies to the county last year.
