City Hall has set aside Sh121 million for payment of medical supplies debt owed to Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa).
This will be part of the Sh3.5 billion supplementary budget passed by MCAs last week. It will offset part of the Sh353 million the county owes the State medical supplies agency.
Acting Nairobi County Health Executive Vesca Kangogo said the payment will be made in the current disbursement of Sh1.4 billion for pending bills and is aimed at ensuring county hospitals do not run out of medical supplies.
“We are paying Sh121 million now, which is the reconciled amount and ensure we clear the balance by the end of the financial year,” said Ms Kangogo.
“In October last year, the county government made an order and received drugs for all the county facilities to last for the just ended quarter in December,” she added.
A fallout between the county government and Kemsa in 2017 led to the agency cutting supplies, forcing many residents to spend more on medicine at private facilities.
But the two parties reached an agreement in October last year with Kemsa resuming supplies to health facilities with a first consignment of Sh66.9 million.
Ms Kangogo said 80 percent of the county health facilities had been restocked with sufficient drugs.
Kemsa CEO Johan Manjari confirmed that normalcy had returned after the two reached an agreement on how the debt would be paid.
“Last week we did Sh66 million worth of medical supply and a commitment to clear the debt has been shared and agreed upon,” said the Kemsa boss.
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