EDITORIAL: Kemsa should explain supply of defective kits

The latest claim by county governments that the State-owned drugs agency supplied them with faulty malaria diagnosis kits is a serious matter that deserves immediate attention.

Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa) is accused of supplying non-functional microscopes to the counties under the national malaria control programme.

The drugs agency acknowledges receiving the complaints but points out that it all came outside the equipment warranty period.

Kemsa can certainly not imagine that its blanket response satisfactorily resolves what is effectively a life and death issue. It must show a willingness to properly investigate the claims, take responsibility for what may have gone wrong and offer long- term remedial action.

Malaria is a deadly disease whose treatment and diagnosis must be handled with the seriousness it deserves. The World Health Organisation estimates that 34.86 million Kenyans are still at risk of contracting the deadly disease — an equivalent of 68 percent of the total population every year. The country had a massive 7.96 million cases in 2017. Malaria deaths rose 9.7 percent to 17,553 in 2017 the majority of them pregnant women and children below the age of five.

We provide these statistics only to demonstrate how serious the burden of malaria remains in the country and why any diagnostic equipment supplied in the fight against it must be of unquestionable efficacy.

It is on record that Kemsa distributed close to 700 microscopes to the 47 counties under a partnership that the National Treasury had with the Global Fund.

That the quality of the microscopes supplied is being put to question yet again points to the procurement shenanigans that is so common in our midst.

In the event that the claim by the governors is proven, Kemsa must take responsibility for every single defective equipment supplied and have them recalled for replacement.

This is because it would be criminal to misuse public funds and endanger human lives through supply of faulty diagnostic equipment that produce false results.