County adopts new tech for procurement
Makueni Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jnr yesterday kicked off efforts to streamline the procurement of essential health commodities to enhance delivery.
Streamlining efforts will involve integrating and enhancing Information Technology based systems to power the procurement and distribution of commodities.
Speaking when he paid a courtesy call on Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa) chief executive Terry Ramadhani yesterday, the governor said the county has undertaken to seal all loopholes facilitating loss of health commodities.
Based on immediate needs assessment, the county, he said, has placed a Sh30 million order for essential medical supplies with Kemsa.
Order comprises oncology, renal, surgical and related items, including laboratory, radiology, dental and linen items. While imploring Kemsa leadership to provide them the necessary support, Governor Mutula (pictured) promised to maintain a prudent just-in-time procurement plan for health supplies to avoid overstocking and stockout scenarios.
Budget cycles
“In Makueni, we have committed to providing the best healthcare possible. This cannot be possible if we continue to lose medicines or cannot account for the supplies delivered,” he said. He added: “We have immediate plans to fully integrate our technology systems to provide end-to-end visibility and enhance our procurement planning and budget cycles.”
Ramadhani welcomed Governor Mutula’s commitment to adopt technology systems and confirmed that Kemsa is now banking on IT systems in its operations.
The county, she said, will be seamlessly linked to Kemsa’s Logistics Management Information System and Electronic Proof of Deliveries (e-POD App).
She said by integrating systems, Kemsa and Makueni would enjoy end-to-end visibility of the pharmaceutical inventories across the health commodities value chain.
“The focus by Makueni to ensure a system-wide assurance of all deliveries from Kemsa is a welcome development,” Ramadhan stated.
