Kemsa taken to task over expired drugs
The Kenya Medical Supplies Authority Act now makes it mandatory for national and county public hospitals to obtain drugs and medical equipment from Kemsa. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- The Kemsa management explained that strikes by medical service providers witnessed last year contributed to low demand for the drugs, leading to their expiry.
- Ouko also points out that taxpayers’ money amounting to Sh352 million meant for purchase of drugs was not spent effectively by Kemsa.
The Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (Kemsa) is on the spot for hoarding drugs in their stores until they expire while hospitals across the country are experiencing shortages.
Auditor-General Edward Ouko in his latest report for the year ended June 2017 indicates that Kemsa has in its stores expired drugs worth Sh92.4 million.
“No explanation has been provided for stocking expired drugs thereby causing unnecessary loss to the authority when the country’s hospitals are short of drugs,” Mr Ouko said in his report.
The Auditor-General also points out that taxpayers’ money amounting to Sh352 million meant for purchase of drugs was not spent effectively by Kemsa.
Appearing before the National Assembly Public Investments Committee (PIC) on Wednesday, the Kemsa management explained that strikes by medical service providers witnessed last year contributed to low demand for the drugs, leading to their expiry.
CONSPIRACY
The management further told the committee chaired by Mvita MP Abdulswamad Nassir that a change in leadership following last year’s General Election led to decreased demand for drugs by county governments.
In April this year, the agency was criticised following revelations that its employees have been colluding with rogue traders to supply expired drugs to the market.
The concerns emerged when police and the Pharmacy and Poisons Board found a consignment of surgical gloves, X-ray protective gowns, drugs, surgical syringes and sutures marked as government property at a house in Parklands, Nairobi.
Those involved in the trade appear to have links with insiders at Kemsa, who make it easy for their requests for drugs to be given away for free at medical camps.
TITLE DEEDS
Kemsa, however, denied the allegations, saying it does not supply drugs that have a shelf life of below 75 percent.
The Auditor-General also warned that the medical agency is at risk of losing various parcels of land across the country valued at Sh183 million as it does not have ownership documents.
The parcels of land are situated in Eldoret, Garissa, Kakamega, Kisumu, Mombasa, Nakuru and Nyeri.
The management admitted that it does not have titles for the parcels of land, saying that before the gazettement of Kemsa in 2000, the agency was a department in the Ministry of Health and all parcels of land on which its depots are located were owned by the ministry.
