The county government has delivered drugs and non-pharmaceuticals worth Sh130m to hospitals in the county, ending the shortage that has been biting for months now.
Medics from the health facilities said that they last received medical and non-pharmaceuticals in September.
Public hospitals in the county have been out of stock for medicines and non-pharms.
Patients were asked to buy syringes and gloves before being attended to at the county general hospital. The facilities were unable to dispense even painkillers.
Governor Fernandes Barasa announced a fortnight ago that his administration will focus on service delivery as opposed to infrastructural development.
“You would rather have a few health centres that are operational than having 100 which have no drugs,” he said during a breakfast meeting with journalists three weeks ago at Golf hotel.
Barasa on Friday presided over the delivery of Sh 7m drugs and non-pharmaceuticals to Matungu level 4 hospital.
“We are committed to ensuring that we restock our drugs quarterly to ensure all health facilities are functional. These drugs were delivering today must be utilised in this facility,” he said.
He said that anyone found to have diverted the drugs for personal or other commercial purposes will be severely punished as the medicines are bought using taxpayers’ money.
“We have put in place an inspection and acceptance committee and surveillance mechanisms to nab those stealing drugs from the government hospital for sale in private premises. We must be accountable for drugs that are supplied to public health facilities,” he said.
Medics said that they had received drugs after a long spell but they did not receive all the drugs and non-pharms they had ordered for.
“We moved away from push to pool system where we were all forces to make our orders from Kemsa which does not have all the supplies we need,” said an officer in charge of a level 4 hospital.
A push system is where drugs and non-pharms are supplied to facilities regardless of their needs while the pool is where a facility is allowed to order only what they require.
The medics who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the deliveries made to his facility within this month did not include all the requirements they ordered like detergent and cotton.
Barasa said that the county executive had prepared the Community Health Volunteer (CHVs) Bill that, once enacted will address the challenges faced by the volunteers including their monthly stipends as the primary healthcare givers.
Under the bill, all CHVs will be given NHIF and NSSF cards. The over 2, 000 CHVs have been complaining of their delayed payments by the county government.
Saying that governors have resolved to work closely with the national government.
The county chief who is the Council of Governors (CoG) finance and economic affairs chairman said that the government should respect devolution.
He asked the national government to stop allocating funds for fully devolved functions like agriculture, ECDE and health.
“As governors, we are demanding Sh 425bn and not the proposed Sh Sh 380bn in the next financial year. We want funds to follow functions,” he said.
