Narok gets Kemsa supplies after paying Sh104m debt

Narok County has started clearing a three-year Sh126 million debt owed to Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa) for resumption of medical supplies.

Kemsa says the county has paid Sh104 million with a balance of Sh12 million remaining but supplies have already resumed.

Narok has procured over Sh400,000 worth of medical commodities with Lolgorian (Transmara West) and Ololulunga (Narok South) health centres already having received their orders while delivery to Narok County Referral Hospital is scheduled for next week.

According to Auditor General 2017/2018 report, counties owe Kemsa Sh2.2 billion dating back to 2013, forcing the authority to blacklist some of the regional governments.

Nairobi County had the highest debt at Sh284 million, followed by Kilifi at Sh138 million and Kitui at Sh104 million alongside Narok which has now paid up.

Kemsa has no way of compelling counties to pay up for drug supplies and continues to deliver some drugs to defaulting counties under the Universal Health Care (UHC) programme.

Under UHC, counties procure theatre drugs, renal, dental and eye clinic commodities through Kemsa.

Kemsa acting CEO Edward Njoroge however said the firm continues to engage with National Treasury, Ministry of Health, Senate and council of governors, to exert pressure on counties to prioritise debt settlement.

“The Authority offers a credit period of 45 days. We will continue to release supplies to the counties because we have had engagements with them and agreed on repayment commitments timelines, and many of the counties have since honoured their promises,” Mr Njoroge said.