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Kenya: KEMSA – Our Commitment to Prompt Service Delivery

Published

4 years ago

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The last few weeks have been a pretty busy season for the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) staffing teams running against time to fulfil customer orders and deliveries.

Due to the budget cycles, county governments have recently placed orders, settled outstanding debts and shared their Health Products and Technologies (HPTs) procurement needs.

At KEMSA, we haven’t been caught by surprise as we have done proper supply chain forecasting and planning to meet our clients’ needs. As the finance bill was going through the paces in the National Assembly, we were busy facilitating procurement and warehouse stocking to enable us to meet the county government needs once the funds were disbursed.

Every year, we gain more experience on this front, and it’s no wonder then that this year, we have maintained a more than 99% order fulfilment rate. Our vast experience in last-mile supply solutions has also come in handy as we progressively continue to deliver consignments’ to the depths of this country.

At the recent Kitui County Consignment flag off, I had an excellent occasion to engage Governor Charity Ngilu on KEMSA’s operations. To great detail, my colleagues and I updated Governor Ngilu on the quality assurance reforms, information technology improvements and globally benchmarked systems that we have adopted to ensure efficient service delivery and turnaround times.

As envisaged in the Big Four Agenda, we were clear that KEMSA has to play a part in establishing and maintaining partnerships that promote better health outcomes. The Authority remains committed to achieving excellence in procurement, warehousing, and distribution of quality, affordable Health Products and Technologies (HPTs) to public health facilities. By far, KEMSA is very well-positioned to contribute to attaining Universal Health Coverage (UHC) goals.

The Government has invested heavily in ensuring KEMSA’s success, as evidenced by the intensive capital investments pumped in state of the art Embakasi Supply Chain Centre.

The facility allows KEMSA to efficiently meet clients’ needs and sustain last-mile Health Products and Technologies (HPTs) deliveries countrywide. Under a dedicated operating model fine-tuned to ensure on-time supply of crucial medical supplies, the Authority provides prompt deliveries to more than 8,000 public health centres in all 47 counties.

Perhaps unknown to many, KEMSA performs one of the most complex supply chain management jobs well above private sector benchmarks’. Our overnight experience in delivering lifesaving drugs and medical supplies to the depths of Lamu or Turkana County and even to the depths of Kibera ranks second to none. Indeed, all County Governments from Nairobi to those in far-flung areas can rest assured that KEMSA has the necessary capacity to service all procedurally placed orders for delivery within seven days or less.