• What is KEMSA?
• What is KEMSA’s Mandate?
• What is KEMSA doing to ensure that commodities procured adhere to accepted Quality Standards?
• Who determines which drugs are to be procured?
• What is the policy for managing slow moving, dead stocks and expired commodities in the facilities?
• What recourse do health facilities have if kits supplied to them are exhausted before the three months are over?
• What is KEMSA currently doing to address the issues of irregular and unscheduled deliveries of commodities?
• How does KEMSA propose to assist facilities that do not have sufficient storage space for three months worth of supplies?
• The supply of IV Fluids, Disinfectant and non-pharmaceutical commodities has been insufficient to rural health facilities.
• Why is it that some health facilities in the districts do not receive medical supplies from KEMSA yet information about them has been communicated by the DHMTs?
• How is KEMSA going to manage distribution of commodities to the health facility level?

What is KEMSA?

The Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) is established as a State Corporation under CAP 466 of the Laws of Kenya through Legal Notice No. 17 of 11th February 2000. Operating under the auspices of Ministry of Health, KEMSA overall mandate is to procure, warehouse and distribute medical commodities to public health facilities.

The Chief Executive Officer oversees the day-to-day running of KEMSA under the supervision of an 11-member Board of Directors who represent cross-section of interests in the healthcare delivery system. They include a non-executive chairman; the Government of Kenya/Ministry of Health—Permanent Secretary, Director of Medical Services, Chief Pharmacist and Registrar of Nursing Council; the Pharmaceutical Society of Kenya; the Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufactures of Kenya; District Health Management Boards; the Kenya Medical Association; the Kenya Institute of Management;  and Chief Executive of KEMSA


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What is KEMSA’s Mandate?
Among other things, KEMSA is mandated to:

1. Develop and operate a viable commercial service for the procurement and sale of high quality drugs and other medical supplies

2. Provide a secure source of drugs and other medical supplies to public health institutions

3. Advise the Health Management Boards and the general public on matters relating to the procurement, cost effectiveness and rational use of drugs and other medical supplies.

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What is KEMSA doing to ensure that commodities procured adhere to accepted Quality Standards?

KEMSA has taken several steps to ensure that commodities procured are of high quality as follows:

• Careful selection of suppliers through pre-qualification thereby procuring only from reputable manufacturer’s with GMP(Good Manufacturing Practice) Certification

• Installation of a Mini Lab for pre-receipt and quick routine analysis

• Routine quarantine of all medical commodities at receipt, and only released for distribution upon satisfactory laboratory results.

• We only distribute medical commodities that are authorized by the Regulatory authorities.

• Complaint handling, Customer feedback and product recall procedures are in place.

• Routine market surveillance to get feedback from customers

• Carrying out continuous self audit to appraise our systems and services

Who determines which drugs are to be procured?

The drugs to be procured are as outlined in the 2003 edition of the Essential Drug List. The volume of commodities to be procured is determined by a quantification exercise that is compiled annually by the program managers of MoH in collaboration with KEMSA and the Chief Pharmacist of Ministry of Health.


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What is the policy for managing slow moving, dead stocks and expired commodities in the facilities?

KEMSA is aware of the problems encountered by staff at health facilities country wide, as a result of the push system which has been in effect in the last couple of years. An exercise is currently being conducted to establish the quantity of commodities that are involved. This will be followed up by a “dejunking” exercise in all regions which will result in the creation of space for much needed commodities.


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What recourse do health facilities have if kits supplied to them are exhausted before the three months are over?

KEMSA is committed to the pull system in so far as national economic resources can support the requirements of health facilities. Orders for specific items that have run out can be placed with KEMSA using available tools. Our customer liaison officers are always available to ensure the replenishment of kits is successful.


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What is KEMSA currently doing to address the issues of irregular and unscheduled deliveries of commodities?

Supplies from KEMSA to the facilities will be scheduled in future. The Customer Liaison Department together with the various health care officers in the regions will be responsible for co-ordinating delivery schedules and informing recipient facilities of impending deliveries. This will ensure that all facilities are aware of incoming shipments and are able to arrange their stores accordingly to accommodate new consignments.


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How does KEMSA propose to assist facilities that do not have sufficient storage space for three months worth of supplies?

KEMSA regional depots are at the service of health facilities and may be used to hold consignments designated for facilities with insufficient space. The issue of facility stores is not within the mandate of KEMSA and as such is being addressed by the Ministry of Health.


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The supply of IV Fluids, Disinfectant and non-pharmaceutical commodities has been insufficient to rural health facilities.

The new kits have been enhanced to address this concern. In particular the Dispensary Kit has been improved and now contains 60 items instead of the previous 34 items.


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Why is it that some health facilities in the districts do not receive medical supplies from KEMSA yet information about them has been communicated by the DHMTs?

The Ministry of Health is undertaking an exercise to match their human resource capacity to the health facilities within the country. This process seeks to ensure that all health facilities that receive GoK commodities are manned by registered staff with the appropriate technical training. As a result, all facilities have to be registered by the Ministry of Health before they can be eligible for receipt of medical commodities. Health Facilities are encouraged to get in touch with their respective DHMTs and ensure that their names are registered with the Ministry.


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How is KEMSA going to manage distribution of commodities to the health facility level?

KEMSA has undertaken a bold strategy to combine outsourced transport together with internal vehicles to provide total country coverage in so far as distribution of commodities is concerned. This strategy allows KEMSA to undertake quarterly distribution of Kits as well as on going distribution of commodities that are not in Kit Form.

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