Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has said the government is implementing reforming at the Kenya
Medical Supplies Agency in order to make it more efficient, transparent and responsive to the growing
medical demands.
Speaking on Wednesday when he hosted senior officials from KEMSA together with local and
international partners in the health sector at Harambee House Annex, the DP said the Agency remained
critical to the government’s plan of ensuring the implementation of the Universal Health Coverage.
Mr Gachagua said the ongoing reforms at the parastatal were paying off adding that the agency was on
the right track to becoming a reliable and reputable organization.
“Transparency and accountability at Kemsa are non-negotiable. We want to see that the systems there
are efficient, reliable and free of scandals that were common before,” the DP said.
In attendance were Kemsa Chief Executive Officer Terry Ramadhani, Kemsa Board Chairman Daniel
Rono, United States ambassador to Kenya Meg Whitman, Amref Country Director Githinji Gitahi, World
Health Organization Country Director Abdourahmane Diallo.
Present also were Principal Secretaries Peter Tum (Medical Services), Dr Josephine Mburu (Health
Standards and Professional Management).
Mr Gachagua challenged the KEMSA officials to modernize the agency’s operations through adoption of
latest technology saying it would help improve service delivery as well as rid it of scandals.
He said an Integrated Health Care Management System was critical for enhancing service delivery
challenging the senior managers to ensure its implementation.
“Achieving Universal Health Coverage is one of the pillars of the administration. We are reengineering
our approach to the health sector so it is beneficial to our people. KEMSA is critical to realizing this. We
are keen to ensure it is efficient and reputable,” the DP said.
The DP also urged the development partners to continue supporting the government to improve the
local healthcare systems, reiterating the importance of the sector to the administration.
He also challenged them to direct more support to the Community Health Volunteers (CHVs) who he
praised for doing a critical job in administering primary healthcare.
Kemsa CEO Ramadhani said they were up to the task adding that the reforms they were implementing
were paying off.
“We are grateful for the support we are getting from the government as we continue to improve our
services,” said Ramadhani.