•KEMSA dispatched more than Sh27 billion worth of essential medicines and medical supplies countrywide in the last financial year.
•In recent months, the authority has collected more than Sh2.7 billion overdue pending bills owed by counties.
Image: MAGDALINE SAYA
The Kenya Medical Supplies Authority has pledged to ensure last mile delivery of health commodities countrywide, even as new governors take over counties leadership.
Kemsa chief executive Terry Ramadhani on Thursday said the agency will be focusing on key performance indicators such as optimum order fill rates and a less than seven days turnaround time.
This, according to the CEO, will ensure support for the health promotion agenda at the county level for newly elected governors as part of the authority's transformation strategy.
“We are also focusing on mutual engagements with the county governments to help unlock more than Sh2 billion of overdue pending bills from several counties,” Ramadhani said.
The speedy settlement of pending bills are expected to help the agency fast track pending payments to its suppliers, as well as boost the national scale of the Universal Health Coverage agenda.
Ramadhani said the authority has formulated plans to enhance the customer experience standards for all counties by ensuring faster order turnaround times, and is currently executing the rapid results strategy geared at raising operating efficiencies and customer satisfaction.
The CEO spoke when she hosted Garissa Governor-elect Nathif Jama in her office.
"County governments can only be described as Kemsa's priority or prestige clients, and we are sparing no effort to ensure that we meet their last mile medical supplies needs as best as we can," Ramadhani said.
Kemsa dispatched more than Sh27 billion worth of essential medicines and medical supplies countrywide in the last financial year.
In recent months, the authority has collected more than Sh2.7 billion overdue pending bills owed by counties through a stakeholder engagement-focused credit management strategy.
Under the new Kemsa credit management strategy, the agency has set a target to collect at least Sh500 million monthly in outstanding dues from counties to boost our service delivery capacity.
Pending bills owed to the Kemsa by counties for supplies dropped from Sh3.9 billion to Sh2.7 billion after nine counties were given a clean bill of health after clearing their outstanding bills.
They are Kilifi, Nakuru, Laikipia, Nyeri, Meru, West Pokot, Turkana, Kisii and Makueni.
(edited by Amol Awuor)