Elgeyo Marakwet County Places Sh 74 Million Health Commodities Order With KEMSA

ELGEYO MARAKWET, Kenya, Sept, 1 – The Elgeyo Marakwet County Governor, Wisley Rotich, has pledged to support proposals aimed at diversifying the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) revenue streams and ringfencing health commodities budgets at the county level.

The National Health Products and Technologies (HPTs) Supply chain solutions commercial agency, he said, will perform better with a broad range of revenue-generating services delivered to its key clients.

Speaking when he paid a courtesy call to KEMSA CEO Ms Terry Ramadhani, Governor Rotich pledged to support and champion legislative efforts that will facilitate the Authority’s revenue diversification base and ringfencing of health financing and operating budgets. As a statutory commercial trading agency, KEMSA, he noted, needs to enjoy a solid financial ground as it provides heavy trade financing support to County Governments.

During the visit, Governor Rotich confirmed that he had commenced the delivery of his development plan with the placement of a Ksh. 74 million health commodities ordered with KEMSA last week to alleviate the health plight of the county residents. The first batch, valued at more than Ksh, 38 million, Ms Ramadhani confirmed, is scheduled for delivery to Iten this weekend.   

“KEMSA is well placed to provide wider services and solutions to the County Governments. I will support its reform agenda, including revenue generation efforts such as contract manufacturing and technical support services beyond the procurement and warehousing of health commodities,” Governor Rotich proposed.

He added, “As county governments, we also need to establish legal frameworks to ringfence health funds to ensure that we do not misapply health funds to other sectors at the expense of health commodity financing, including prompt payments to supply agencies.”

Elgeyo Marakwet County has two district hospitals, six sub-district hospitals, one mission hospital, 16 health centres, 79 dispensaries, ten private clinics, and 12 community units. These facilities provide varying clinical service levels, with Iten Level IV Hospital, the biggest facility in the county, complemented by the health centres and dispensaries to provide most of the primary health care services.

While welcoming Governor Rotich’s support, KEMSA CEO Ms Ramadhani confirmed that organisational reforms at the Authority remain firmly on course. The Authority, she said, is actively executing the KEMSA 2.0 strategy to drive operational excellence, enhance customer experience and reposition the organisation for growth.

Ringfencing health budgets at the county level, she acknowledged, will help to unlock the settlement of more than Ksh. 2 billion worth of long pending bills owed to KEMSA by various County Governments.

“The proposal by Governor Rotich is a welcome idea and one that has been considered part of KEMSA’s transformation strategy,” Ms Ramadhani said. “This year, we will be actively engaging with County Governments and the National Assembly to win their support towards facilitating KEMSA’s revenue diversification strategies and ringfencing of health funds at the county level,” she said.

Within the KEMSA 2.0 strategy, the Authority has formulated plans to enhance the customer experience standards for all counties by ensuring faster order turnaround times. The KEMSA 2.0 strategy focuses on building momentum for organisational productivity; to guarantee efficient last mile delivery of health commodities countrywide.