‘Pay up your KEMSA debts’ – CS Nakhumicha urges counties
By Dennis Onyancha, June 13, 2024
Cabinet Secretary for Health Susan Nakhumincha has urged counties to pay their outstanding balances owed to the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (KEMSA) to enable the agency to deliver its mandate.
Nakhumincha was addressing the Parliamentary Health Committee on the progress of transitioning from the National Health Insurance Fund to the Social Health Authority.
She noted that settling the debt of over Ksh2.8 billion by the counties will allow the national agency to meet its orders and improve its efficiency including cutting its turnaround time to less than seven days.
“We appeal to county governments to settle their debts to the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA), which amount to over Ksh2.8 billion,” Nakhumicha said.
“This will enable KEMSA to concentrate on key performance indicators, such as achieving optimum order fill rates and a turnaround time of less than seven days, ensuring timely and efficient delivery of health commodities nationwide.”
The Cabinet Secretary’s comments follow a directive by the Senate Health Committee on May 10, 2024, asking the agency to stop supplying drugs to counties that had accumulated debt exceeding 30 days.
“As a committee, we must get to the bottom of this matter and get a solution today. Any county whose debt is more than 30 days old must not get any supplies,” Ledama Olekina, the Narok Senator said during the meeting.
Huge debts accrued
KEMSA Chief Executive Officer decried the reluctance by counties in paying their debts citing counties like Homa Bay and Nakuru who had accrued debts of up to two years despite threats to cut off supplies.
Mulwa has also come out to accuse other counties including Nairobi, Homa Bay, Taita Taveta, Makueni, Kakamega, Trans Nzoia, and Kisumu of completely cutting links with the national supplier, ignoring the current law that mandates all public entities to make their purchases from KEMSA.
According to KEMSA, Kilifi County is the most owed entity at Ksh276 million, followed by Nairobi at Ksh243 million while Kakamega comes third with a balance of Ksh187 million.
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