• Raila said that the Covid-19 pandemic exposed loopholes in the health sector across county governments
• He said that the agency needs to regain its lost ground, where it was drawing in support from partners.
ODM leader Raila Odinga has said there is a need to reorganise the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority to improve health facilities in the country.
In a statement on Monday regarding the country's health human resources and infrastructure, Raila said the Covid-19 pandemic exposed loopholes in the sector across county governments.
This, he said, can be corrected by further strengthening devolution rather than weakening it.
The former Prime Minister took a swipe at Kemsa which has been engulfed in scandals that is said to have caused Kenya a loss of about Sh2.3 billion.
The ODM leader said that the country needs to address the issue of monopoly in Kemsa.
“The recent unfortunate saga with Kemsa’s mismanagement of the purchase of commodities in the public health sector, including the so far inconclusive issue of the Covid billionaires must draw our attention to the wider need to clean up the governance and management of this state agency,” Raila said.
He said that the agency needs to regain its lost ground, where it was drawing in support from partners.
“It needs to recapture lost ground. It cannot do this if it continues to enjoy monopoly status that the change in the law gave it in purchasing medical commodities for counties through a framework, which is by its nature, monopolistic.”
Raila suggested that Kemsa should be allowed to regain its efficiency by competing in the open market and providing pharmaceuticals and non-pharmaceutical to national and county government facilities at competitive market prices.
He added that being the largest consumers of Kemsa commodities, counties need representation on the agency’s board.
According to him, restructuring Kemsa will save the country from misadventures like the purchase of managed equipment services.
“That misadventure was itself a result of the monopolistic nature of Kemsa which leads to wastage and inefficiencies. With the rapid changes in technology, Kemsa should be going for equipment leasing instead of purchase.”
He also said that what is applicable to Kemsa will equally work for NHIF, where counties are equally significant players in the mission.
Raila said the legal instruments governing the work, management, and output of NHIF will have to take into account the vital part that counties must play in the board of NHIF.
“It is completely outdated to continue calling this body National Hospital Insurance Fund. What we are insuring are not hospitals but health. Focusing on hospitals is a rather morbid way of interpreting the mission of such an important insurance scheme.”
Human resources for health
Raila noted that the current pandemic has revealed stark realities in shortages of human resources in the health sector.
He said that there is a need to continue training more carders and specialists as well as building specialist institutions such as referral facilities.
“The role of the private sector here cannot be ignored. But post-graduate training, while encouraged by both the national and county governments has continued to be a big problem to counties.”
“The present model where counties lose their workers who go for post-graduate work in national referral facilities while being paid by their counties is an exploitation of counties and is not sustainable. It depletes counties of vital human resources at a very high level.”
Edited by D Tarus