Mombasa County has received a consignment of medical supplies worth Ksh 7 million from Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (KEMSA) to boost the delivery of health services in the county.
This is part of the medical supplies worth over 50 million that the county will receive and be distributed to all county health facilities.
The consignment which was received by Mombasa Governor Abdulswamad Nassir at his office consisted of pharmaceuticals and non-pharmaceuticals, laboratory and other specialized medical products.
Speaking during the event, the governor said the supplies would be of great relief to patients who have been affected by the lack of drugs in hospitals.
“This is a journey to ensure that our facilities are equipped with medicines and disposables. This is the first lot, by next week we are expecting another consignment,” said Nassir.
Nassir in addition said that the county is banking on the ongoing biometric registration of Mombasa Care, a health insurance cover provided to the vulnerable residents of Mombasa County to ensure universal health service delivery.
“We want to ensure that our people under the NHIF cover get treated, we have finalized confirmation to 16,000 facilities, we have paid for our medical supplies, we have paid NHIF so we are good to go,” said Nassir.
He however urged the agency to complete the order and deliver the remaining medicines as soon as possible to avoid an occurrence of shortage of drugs in the coming months noting that there has been a recurrence of drug shortages in the past due to delayed supplies from the board.
On her part, Mombasa county health executive member Swabah Ahmed said any patient registered under NHIF is eligible for treatment as the county has cleared all debts with the health insurer.
“Any patient registered under the NHIF can now visit any hospital and be assured of health services. We expect 80,000 members to benefit from the NHIF cover under the county universal health program,” said Ahmed.
The consignment will be distributed to the public hospitals in Mombasa County. Some of the hospitals expected to receive the medicines include Coast General teaching & Referral Hospital.
Others are Likoni District Hospital, Port Reitz District Hospital, Sayyida Fatimah Hospital and Tudor Sub County Hospital among others.
Haniel Mengistu
