Economy

Medic strikes cause Sh252m drugs loss

kemsa

Kemsa chief executive Jonah Manjari. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Frequent strikes by doctors, nurses and clinical officers is to blame for the expiry of Sh252 million drugs, the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa) has told Parliament.

Jonah Manjari, the Kemsa chief executive told the Public Investment Committee (PIC) that the long electioneering before and after the August 8, General Election also contributed to the expiry following decreased demand for drugs by county governments.

“Strikes by medical services providers in public health facilities during and before the financial year 2016/17 also contributed to low demand for commodities hence expiries,” Dr Manjari told the committee chaired by Mvita MP Abdulswamad Nassir.

He appeared before PIC to respond to Auditor-General Edward Ouko’s questions over expenditure of Sh92,392,927 for drugs that were unsalable due to expiry or damage in the year to June 2017.
Mr Ouko said Kemsa held expired drugs worth Sh259,741,614 in the financial year 2015/16.

“No explanation has been provided for stocking expired/damaged drugs thereby causing unnecessary loss to the authority when the country’s hospitals are short of drugs.

“ In the circumstances, it has not been possible to determine the propriety of the inventory balance of Sh11,776,786,528 included in the statement of financial position as at June 30, 2017 as well as the net sales of Sh900,094,880 included in the statement of financial performance for the year ended June 30, 2017,” Mr Ouko said.

Further, in the two financial years, public money on purchase of drugs worth Sh352,134,551 has not been applied in an effective way, Mr Ouko said in a qualified audit opinion.