Duale orders hospitals to buy drugs from Kemsa
Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale.
What you need to know:
- Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale said the ministry will surcharge top officials for any expired medications at the warehouse.
- Duale said the new approach will ensure procurement matches actual healthcare needs rather than creating excess that eventually expires.
All referral hospitals in Kenya must purchase drugs and medical supplies exclusively from the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (Kemsa) before seeking alternative suppliers, Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has ordered.
He also warned that the ministry will surcharge top officials for any expired medications at the warehouse.
The directive represents a dramatic shift in government procurement policy that had earlier allowed counties to procure medicines and medical supplies directly from Mission for Essential Drugs and Supplies (MEDS) or from private medicine suppliers and, in certain circumstances, from local manufacturers.
Speaking during a strategic engagement with Kemsa's board and senior management in Embakasi, Duale warned that the top officials will face personal financial consequences for drug expiry under the new regime.
"I have directed that all referral health facilities should first buy drugs from Kemsa. And if we find any expired drugs here, we will surcharge the CEO and all the directors if even one drug expires," Duale declared.
The CS emphasized that the new approach aims to transform Kemsa from a "supply-driven" to a "demand-driven" organization, ensuring that procurement matches actual healthcare needs rather than creating excess that eventually expires.
The ministry's intervention comes amid revelations that Kenya's medicine expiry rate stands at a staggering 32 percent, more than six times the global average of 3-5 percent. This massive waste represents not just financial loss but what Duale terms "a betrayal of public trust."
Speaking at the 45th Annual Scientific Conference of the Pharmaceutical Society of Kenya in Mombasa last month, Duale revealed that routine inspections of over 300 public health facilities and Kemsa warehouses uncovered alarming quantities of expired drugs dating back several years.
"Nearly a third of all drugs procured for public use expire before they are even distributed," he stated. "The value of expired stock could have covered the entire annual health budgets of several counties, built hundreds of new hospitals, or paid thousands of frontline health workers."
The Ministry of Health (MoH) last month said that it needed Sh600 million to safely dispose of expired drugs worth Sh90 billion currently held by the government facility.
He revealed how routine inspections of over 300 public health facilities and Kemsa warehouses by the health ministry found large volumes of expired drugs left unused.
MoH further stated that health officers in Trans Nzoia admitted that a majority of their expired stock originated from poorly coordinated donations while in Kilifi, the health ministry found that expired medical supplies from national health programmes targeting HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis had been left to accumulate due to changing treatment protocols and outdated stock rotation practices.
County officials urged the government to come up with clear and concise disposal guidelines told the government that financial constraints, convoluted supply chains, and lack of disposal guidelines immensely contributed to the crisis.
Value of expired stock
But Mr Duale maintained that the expiry of drugs is an unacceptable emergency.
“This is not just a waste of resources, it is a betrayal of public trust,” he said while warning that nearly a third of all drugs procured for public use expire before they are even distributed.
“The value of expired stock could have covered the entire annual health budgets of several counties, built hundreds of new hospitals, or paid thousands of frontline health workers.”
However, officials at Kemsa attributed the crisis to what they described as a combination of poor forecasting, inefficient procurement, and bureaucratic inertia.
In response the Health CS cited he had established that drugs at the agency were often procured in bulk without proper assessment of demand at the facility level leading to overstocking in some regions while others faced critical shortages.
In September 2023, the agency destroyed Sh1.8 billion worth of expired drugs and equipment while in 2022 it was on the spot over Sh328 million worth of expired drugs.
MoH explained that the disposal process is necessary to create space for new medical supplies and maintain safety standards.
Mr Duale further directed the management to fully activate regional warehouses and last-mile delivery systems to improve accountability, ensure timely service delivery, and rebuild public trust in the national medical supply system.
“Kemsa must become a high-performing, agile, and ethical institution that delivers for the people. The health of our citizens depends on a supply system that works — one that counties and communities can trust,” he stated.