Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya has welcomed a court ruling that has allowed county governments to buy medicine and non-pharmaceuticals from other suppliers other than Kemsa.
"The case has taken long before a ruling was made, but we are happy as counties that the law that restricted devolved units from purchasing drugs from a variety of suppliers has been overturned,” he said.
Oparanya said some MPs had colluded with pharmaceutical organisations to enact the law so that they could benefit from them and the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority.
“This is a big win for counties that have been suffering in the hands of Kemsa, which has no capacity to satisfy counties' needs," he said.
He said Kemsa has been a big letdown to counties, adding that they have been the cause of persistent shortages of drugs to public hospitals.
The Kakamega governor spoke at Shamberere Technical Training Institute (TTI) during a public participation forum on Friday.
The Council of Governors had gone to court seeking to overturn the law that gave Kemsa the monopoly to supply drugs and medical equipment to counties.
Governors have been accusing Kemsa of lacking the capacity to supply medicine and non-pharmaceuticals. They said this has hurt health facilities from dispensing services to residents.
Oparanya said the decision to allow counties to buy drugs and equipment from suppliers of their choice was a sigh of relief to the devolved units.
The governor assured Kakamega residents that the shortage of drugs in hospitals will now be a thing of the past.
He said the county has set aside money to purchase drugs from alternative suppliers, which will be supplied to hospitals next week.
"Pharmaceutical organisations are knocking on our doors after the ruling," Oparanya added.
He lamented that corruption at public hospitals in Kakamega has frustrated efforts to provide quality medical services.
He said some managers divert money disbursed to health facilities for the purchase of drugs to pay casual workers they irregularly hire.
Oparanya said, as a result, he has denied them the powers to employ casual workers.
Deputy Governor Philip Kutima said the county had done a lot in terms of development, but many people were not aware of this due to lack of information.
He said public participation meetings have been rolled out by the governor to give residents an opportunity to get first-hand information on the development agenda.
Edited by A.N
