Nairobi county hospitals have finally received their first batch of drugs after a three-year dry spell.
On Tuesday, Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja flagged off the health products and other supplies from KEMSA worth Sh244 million, which will be distributed to all the health facilities within the County.
“Glad to receive and distribute essential medical supplies worth Sh244 million this afternoon after settling part of our historical debt with KEMSA. We have put in place adequate measures to ensure the integrity of our stocks and that they reach our patients,” he said.
The three years of acute shortages was occasioned by the non-supply of essential medicines and other supplies. The last drug supplies were received in March 2020.
The commodities flagged off comprised of 70 per cent of the essential commodities, 20 per cent of vital commodities - for emergencies and 10 per cent of small equipment and linen.
In line with section 48 of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act,2015, Governor Sakaja stated that the county has teams in each facility to receive, inspect and approve the supplies.
The consignment which is in two batches will be distributed to 118 facilities.
The Sub-county commodity security teams will also render any logistical and technical support needed on the day of delivery.
On Tuesday, 22 facilities received the commodities including major hospitals such as Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital, Pumwani Maternity Hospital, Mbagathi Hospital, Mutuini Hospital, Kayole II and Kamiti and Dagoretti North and South Sub-county facilities as well as Embakasi East and Embakasi North.
On Thursday, Sub-county health facilities in Kamukunji, Langata and Kibra, Embakasi South, Embakasi Central, Embakasi West, Starehe, Westlands, Ruaraka and Roysambu, Kasarani and Makadara will receive the commodities.
The distribution of the consignment was actualized by negotiations and settlement of the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) debt of Sh185.1 million.
The move has ended a four-year row between the Nairobi county government and the state agency.
Kemsa and the county government have been embroiled in a tussle over this debt since 2017.
That year, the authority stopped supplying medicine to Nairobi county hospitals over Sh285 million in debt, forcing patients to buy drugs and other medical supplies from private hospitals and chemists.
It took the intervention of President Uhuru Kenyatta and former Health CS Sicily Kariuki for Kemsa to resume supplies in 2018.
However, the tussle arose again in 2019 when former Governor Mike Sonko announced it was considering turning to other drug suppliers to stock its health centres, accusing Kemsa of being unreliable.
The debt then stood at Sh300 million.
However, in October 2020, City Hall paid Sh166.9 million to the agency to offset part of the then Sh353 million debt.
Out of this, Sh120 million was to go towards settling the debt while Sh46 million was for a fresh supply of medicine to county health facilities.
This is after Kemsa said out of Sh2.8 billion owed to them by seven counties, Nairobi topped the list with Sh353 million debt.
After the payment, Kemsa made Sh66.93 million supply to the top four county hospitals including Mama Lucy Hospital, Pumwani Maternity, Mbagathi and Mutuini, and other health centres across the capital.
