Part of the consignment of ARVs valued at more than Sh200 million that was flagged off by the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority Acting CEO John Kabuchi on February 22, 2022 In 2018, Kenya was the only country in Africa that Global Fund commended for its excellent drugs supply system.
The Fund said the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority was doing such an excellent job that other countries should come and learn from it.
"Procurement processes are able to get medicines at cheaper prices than the Global Fund’s pooled procurement mechanism," the fund’s Office of Inspector General said in its 2018 audit report , covering 2016 and 2017.
Four years later, the Fund says Kemsa has become so inefficient that, after payment, it takes 406 days to deliver malaria drugs and in some cases delivers nothing.
What changed? Kemsa chairperson Mary Mwadime admits the authority has been grossly underperforming and unable to meet its clients’ urgent needs.
"This state of affairs had endangered the lives of Kenyans and gravely threatened the realisation of Universal Health Coverage (UHC), which is critically predicated on a successful and optimally operating Kemsa," she said in a statement.
However, Mwadime, whose board was appointed April year, says they are already reforming the authority.
"We wish to confirm that commendable progress has already been made," she said in a statement.
"Within the last six months, critical reforms have been achieved and the board evaluation matrix confirms that we have achieved a 65 per cent progress rate against the targets set to be achieved by mid this year," she added.
Last week, in its 2018-2021 audit , Global Fund complained after Kemsa took about 406 days after receiving funds in 2020 to finally deliver malaria medicines in Kenya last year.
This resulted in a year-long stockout of some malaria drugs in many hospitals, with some facilities receiving no drugs for more than 480 days.The investigation by Global Fund also shows the authority also took about 348 days after receiving funds, to deliver TB drugs and related supplies.The supplies were meant to boost Kenya’s capacity to withstand Covid-19 shocks in 2020.TB drugs have the worst stockouts with 38 per cent of facilities telling Global Fund investigators they have not had TB treatment RHZE (received rifampin, isoniazid, pyrazinamide, and ethambutol) for two years now.The Fund said delivery of HIV drugs took about 278 days.“Due to gaps noted in advanced planning and turnaround timelines, long procurement delays are impacting program implementation […]
