The Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) board has denied fresh integrity allegations reported in the media.
The board has also assured its working in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health, Development partners for Health in Kenya (DPH-K) and other stakeholders’ to facilitate reforms at KEMSA to deliver quality and affordable Health Products and Technologies (HPTs).
“We reiterate that within our term, KEMSA has not faced any new integrity attack to the best of our knowledge and commend the dedicated staffing teams working hard to uphold the authority’s operating mandate, guided by the tenets of our national values,” KEMSA Chairperson Mary Mwadime
This comes as UN-backed Global Fund revealed that 908,000 mosquito nets, 1.1 million condoms and tuberculosis drugs worth Kshs 10 million had disappeared from KEMSA’s warehouse
At the same time, the board acknowledged the release of the Global Fund Grants audit report in Kenya and assured that reforms are firmly on course.
“We note that the report covering January 2018 to April 2021 audit period articulates the Board’s position and assessment of the Authority’s operating soundness as publicly declared last November. Media reports alluding and alleging that KEMSA has faced fresh integrity challenges are therefore untrue. The Board remains steadfast in providing much-needed oversight and continues to work closely with key partners. Indeed, the audit report confirms that The Global Fund and partners have invested in resilient and sustainable systems for health in Kenya, including strengthening the national procurement and supply chain system,” She added.
Noting that the January 2018 to April 2021 audit period report further acknowledged ongoing reforms and on November 4, 2021, the Board confirmed that organizational reform efforts had been stepped up to position the Authority as an effective player in the local healthcare system.
This she said was in the realization that KEMSA was grossly under-performing and largely unable to meet its clients’ urgent needs, particularly the delivery of essential Medicines and Products to the Counties, Referral Hospitals and Programs.
Mwadime said the Global Fund is committed to working with the government of Kenya and partners to address the key issues and risks identified under the audit.
“ Just like the Board reported last year, the Global Fund 2018-2021 report acknowledges that an audit of the Kenya portfolio had found that KEMSA warehousing and distribution systems were affecting traceability and accountability of commodities received and distributed. The audit showed that significant improvement is needed in internal controls and assurance over the procurement and supply chain. It also found that improvement is needed in financial management and controls for better accountability, and better absorption and utilization of investments such as the C19RM funds. “
She noted the reforms KEMSA are part of far-reaching recommendations outlined in several KEMSA restructuring reports, including the latest KEMSA Immediate Action Plan and Medium Term Reforms Working Committee (KIAPRWC) report.
Commissioned by the Board, the KIAPRWC report revealed challenges in critical functions which were also collaborated in the Global Fund Audit Report.
“Conscious of these challenges, the Board which was appointed vide a Gazette Notice on 28th April 2021 and inaugurated early May 2021, embarked on developing a KEMSA Transformation Strategy. The strategy is anchored on a reform foundation and plans to facilitate global best practices. These best practices include a good span of control, transparent reporting relationships and command structures, compounding related functions for strengthened accountability and a re-determination of optimal staffing levels and norms,” said Mwadime.
To ensure accountability, she said the Board has in the past ten months embraced information technology systems and is actively pursuing the end to end integration and rolled out the award-winning KEMSA Electronic Proof of Deliveries or e-POD App, that keeps track of deliveries to primary health facilities.
The board has also stepped up stakeholder engagements this year while seeking further resources to underwrite the ongoing reforms.
” We wish to confirm that commendable progress has already been made, and the reform agenda is firmly on course. We take pride that jointly with the Management teams, we have laid a solid foundation for reforms by creating a shared vision, establishing project teams and training staff to adopt structured problem-solving approaches,” added Mwadime.
Within the last six months, she noted that critical reforms have been achieved with the board evaluation matrix confirming that they have achieved a 65% progress rate against the targets set to be achieved by mid this year.
” In support of UHC, KEMSA in the last financial year procured Health Products and Technologies (HPTs) worth KShs. 35.84 billion, and distributed to more than 11,500 health facilities,” noted the chairperson.
