• The Kemsa board reiterated that the Authority is undertaking normal operations guided by a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) which was formulated and executed before the release of non-core staff home.
• While imploring stakeholders to support the board in the restructuring process, the health committee further appealed to County Governments owing Kemsa to settle their debts.
Image: HANDOUT
The National Assembly Health committee has urged stakeholders affiliated with Kemsa to extend the necessary support to the authority's board and management as organisational restructuring efforts get underway.
Speaking in Nairobi on Tuesday after a closed-door briefing session with the Kemsa board members, Health Committee chairperson Sabina Chege, expressed the panel's satisfaction with the Reforms Plan drawn up by the board.
Flanked by Ministry of Health Principal Secretary Susan Mochache and members of the Committee, Chege discounted reports that the Military and related security agencies had taken over Kemsa.
The Kemsa board, led by Chairperson Mary Mwadime, reiterated that the Authority is undertaking normal operations guided by a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) which was formulated and executed before the release of non-core staff home.
The board, she said, is firmly in control through providing policy oversight and is working closely with a core Management Team assisted by a multi-agency team drawn from public sector experts.
The multi-agency operations team is handling logistics, human resource management, quality assurance, physical and information security, among other dockets.
"We are comfortable to hear that the Board is in full control. The whole issue about the Military and NYS that has been flying around we have been assured is misguided.
"As a committee, we have asked the Board to take care of the employees and ensure that due process is followed, even as the restructuring gets underway," Chege said.
While urging stakeholders to support the board in the restructuring process, the health committee further appealed to County Governments owing Kemsa to settle their debts.
She said the authority is reeling under a massive debt load occasioned by a delay in paying outstanding debts for medical supplies already delivered by Kemsa to several counties.
The committee, she said, had also expressed its concern on the management stability, asking the Board to consider filling the positions currently held by acting managers substantively.
"It is important that this Board maintains a proper management team and to make sure that supplies are uninterrupted to Kemsa clients. My appeal to the County Governments, is if you owe Kemsa, kindly urgently pay. It is important that we take Kemsa back to its former glory," she said.
During the session, Mwadime disclosed that a recent Taskforce report by the Kemsa Immediate Action Plan and Medium Term Reforms Working Committee (KIAPRWC) had revealed challenges in critical functions that deserve to be expeditiously addressed.
Mwadime said currently, Kemsa, is grossly underperforming and is largely unable to meet clients' urgent needs, particularly the delivery of essential medicines and products to the counties, referral hospitals and programs.
Specifically, she said the authority is suffering from below-par productivity, with the order fill rate standing at 18% against a target performance of over 90%.
Kemsa's order turn-around time is an average of 46 days.
In June 2021, out of 11,000 orders received at KEMSA, only 345 orders were serviced at the Authority, which is suffering from a developing debtor and creditor crisis.
Currently, Kemsa is owed Sh6.4 billion and owes its creditors Sh4.5 billion.
The authority is operating at 170% above its approved staff establishment of three hundred and forty-one (341) with an estimated staff complement of 922.
Last week, Mwadime confirmed that the necessary interventions had been put in place to avoid undue disruptions to service delivery and day to day operations.
She assured that the release of all staff to work from home is a procedural formality to facilitate the review of the organizational structure and will be undertaken expeditiously to ensure that the staff complement is fit for purpose and within the approved staff establishment levels.
Mwadime said the board is committed to facilitating the necessary reforms to ensure that Kemsa challenges are sufficiently addressed.
This commitment includes aligning the organizational structure to industry-accepted standards for a health commodities and technologies procurement organization.
It also calls for the introduction of global best practices, including transparent reporting relationships, an acceptable span of control, and command structures, compounding related functions for strengthened accountability and a re-determination of optimal staffing levels and norms.