- Current law does not require Kemsa to provide status and cost-effectiveness of procurement.
- House further asked to consider establishing the Medicine Affordability and Pricing Advisory Committee
Image: MAGDALINE SAYA
Pharmacy and Poisons Board wants Parliament to amend the law to make it a requirement for Kemsa to report annually on cost-effectiveness in procurement of health products and technologies.
The board argues that Kemas Act, 2013 does not require the agency to collect information and provide regular reports to the national and county governments on the status and cost-effectiveness of procurement.
“The Act does not explicitly require cost-effectiveness as an outcome of health products and technologies procurement by Kemsa. Furthermore, there are other public entities that procure and supply HPTs that are not covered by the KEMSA Act, like referral hospitals and county governments,” the board said.
The board nonetheless noted that Kemsa is subject to Public Procurement and Disposal Act, No. 33 of 2015 which requires public entities to ensure fairness, equitability, transparency, cost-effectiveness and competition in procurement.
Kemsa, whose mandate is to procure, warehouse and distribute drugs and medical supplies for prescribed public health programmes, has often been accused of going for expensive supplies.
In a report to the National Assembly's Health Committee, the board said amending the Act will strengthen oversight.
The board further asked the House to consider establishing the Medicine Affordability and Pricing Advisory Committee (MAPAC) in order “enable all-of-government and all-of-society approach to pricing issues for HPTs in the country.”
The board also suggested that Parliament enacts legislation to establish a legal, institutional and regulatory framework to guide the development of strategic interventions aimed at addressing the high cost of healthcare.
“These may include mechanisms for health benefits development, updating and costing through the proposed Health Benefits and Tariffs Authority (HBTA), applying health technology assessment (HTA) to advise the Government on the prioritisation and costing health benefits, including pricing of HPTs,” the report of the board stated.
The board noted that the price of a medicine should reflect its value to the consumer.
It said the determination of the patient price may be arrived at through mark-up regulation across the pharmaceutical supply and distribution chain.
“However, health systems face difficulty in measuring the value of a health product or intervention and linking it with the price. Implementing patient prices requires an intricate system of economic regulation, based on a total market approach,” it explained.
The board asked MPs to enact legislation mandating health workers to report any suspected adverse events experienced by patients under their care.
“Such legislation to include an indemnity clause that protects any health care worker who reports a suspected adverse event, from unwarranted blame,” it added.
The board noted that it has an established unit on post-marketing surveillance that is responsible for market surveillance of quality of health products and technologies.
Parliament was also asked to consider advocating to the national Treasury to change from tax exemption to zero-rating taxation for HPTs.