By Mary Mwadime
“You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself into one.”
– JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE, ENGLISH HISTORIAN
At the height of the Covid-19 Pandemic, Kenyans woke up to a realisation that their national medical supplies agency, the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA), was reeling from a regrettable corruption scandal.
The days that followed saw a national outcry and the reconstitution of the Board of Directors to provide oversight and policy direction. President Uhuru Kenyatta was acutely aware and concerned that the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority was treading on very thin ice. At the inauguration, the Board was tasked to oversee a rapid results programme that would facilitate a transformation of the Authority.
It would never be business as usual at KEMSA, as the organisation was teetering on the brink of a national health care disaster. Media reports and accounts from its own clients, mostly County and National Referral hospitals, painted a picture of a misfiring gun.
Evidently, this has endangered the lives of Kenyans and is gravely threatening the realisation of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) goals which are critically predicated on a successful and optimally operating KEMSA.
KEMSA is not just any other State Corporation – it is our only national strategic organisation with a capacity to handle the medical products and drugs supply chain needs of more than 8,000 health facilities countrywide through a critical last-mile delivery service.
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However, an independent review of its operating capacity by a local and international panel of experts recently established that KEMSA is grossly underperforming and unable to meet the needs of its clients.
The Panel of experts under the KEMSA Immediate Action Plan and Medium Term Reforms Working Committee (KIAPRWC) confirmed that operational challenges at the Authority are borne out of deeply-rooted systemic issues. Some of the issues touch on its core operating fronts, such as the integrity of the Authority’s Procurement, Warehousing and Distribution, Information Communication and Technology (ICT) systems and procedures.
The Committee report indicated that the systemic challenges have gravely impacted the Authority’s ability to meet its obligations. This is demonstrated by indicators such as the declining order fill rate, prolonged order turn-around time, cash-flow crisis, low staff productivity, amongst other indicators.
This week, the Board announced the stepping up of the reforms agenda to get KEMSA back on its feet under a consultative model. The envisaged reforms and restructuring will help reconstitute human resource functions to bring about the much-needed coherence and end-to-end visibility of the Authority to ensure we have an efficiency that facilitates the delivery of KEMSA’s organisational core mandate.
As the review gets underway and complies with legal requirements governing labour management, the Board has already issued general notice letters copied to the respective trade unions. The General Notice letters require all non-core staff members to work from home as the necessary consultations progress to an amicable settlement. Already, the core operating teams under a caretaker management team have been notified, appointed and mobilised to ensure seamless operations in the intervening period.
Ultimately, the Board is optimistic that the restructuring and reforms will herald the dawn of a new KEMSA – an authority that is structurally aligned to industry-accepted standards for a health commodities and technologies procurement and distribution organisation. A KEMSA that maintains global best practices including an acceptable 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.
A new effective KEMSA is possible; join us in the reforms journey.
Mary Mwadime is the Chairperson, Kenya Medical Supplies Authority. Email [email protected]
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