Turkana County on Wednesday received a consignment of medical supplies worth Sh. 36 million from the Kenya Medical Supply Agency (Kemsa). In a speech read by KEMSA Sales and marketing Manager Jackline Mainye, the agency acting CEO Edward Njoroge said the supplies will enable about one million residents in the County to access better health care and improve health outcomes. Njoroge said the most recent supply to the county was in May this year which was worth Sh. 99 million at the height of covid-19 pandemic. He further underscored that the County Government of Turkana had cleared its outstanding debt of Sh. 99 million for commodities that were supplied. Kemsa Sales and Marketing Manager acknowledged the great partnership between the agency and the County over the years. “Kemsa is undergoing various reforms that are geared towards creating efficiency in supply of medical commodities to the counties,” said Mainye. She appreciated the County Government of Turkana for the commitment and honoring payments to Kemsa on time.
“The county has been consistent in placing their orders, we have promised to improve and ensure that we attain the 100 per cent order fill rate,” she said.
Speaking during the flagging off of the medical supplies at the Ministry of Health headquarters in Lodwar, County Executive Committee member for Health Jane Ajele said the consignment included essential drugs plus programmed drugs that include Tuberculosis (TB) and Antiretroviral drugs. Responding to concerns from the public that they are usually sent to purchase drugs from the private pharmacies, the CEC said that there is enough drug supply in all facilities attributing the problem to some clinicians who may prescribe to patients drugs that are not in the stock list.
“We have all the essential drugs that is first line drugs unless the clinician prescribes other drugs which are not in our stock that is the second and third line drugs,” she said. The CEC assured residents of consistent and reliable supply of drugs in all the health facilities to ensure no shortages are experienced in future. “We had a supply of five months which we received recently and this one is going to last for 2-3 months, we will still be making our requests quarterly to ensure we don’t have shortages in our facilities,” she said.
County Chief Officer of Health Cpt. (rtd) Augustine Lokwang assured the public that the drugs would be supplied to the intended facilities.
He sounded a stern action against any person found using them for unintended purpose. “We have advised our staff to ensure that the drugs are prescribed and issued to patients and if anyone is involved in misusing we would be able to take appropriate action against them”, reiterated Cpt. (Rtd) Lokwang. He urged the public to call on the toll free emergency no. 0114265180 whenever anyone has a complaint or any matter requiring the assistance of the Ministry.
County Director for Medical Supplies Dr. Joseph Epem said the supplied medical products would cover all the 230 health facilities in the county. “We have received Lab reagents for testing various ailments, we have ARVs, family Planning, anti-TBs, we have all the essential medicine for all diseases,” said Epem. Epem said that the Medicines and Therapeutic committee had been formed to advise the clinicians to stick to the essential medicines list covering all diseases.