President William Ruto has reiterated his commitment to ensuring every Kenyan receives quality and equitable healthcare under the Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
Speaking on Thursday when he officially opened the Butere County Hospital, in Kakamega County, the head of state said the hospital will receive all the needed medical equipment under the National Equipment Service Program and further directed the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) to facilitate the availability of medicines to the facility under the new order fill rate.
He said KEMSA has now moved from the 48% fill rate to 67%.
“We are undertaking a bold transformation of the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) to make it more efficient, sustainable, and effective, raising its current drug availability rate from 48 per cent to 68 per cent”, he stated.
President Ruto said the country is soon going to eliminate the crisis of medicine shortage in public hospitals, saying his latest directive to achieve a 100% order fill rate is on course.
“Our ultimate goal is to achieve a 100 per cent refill rate by the end of the year, ensuring consistent access to essential medicines and other commodities and thus improve health outcomes for all citizens”, he explained.
He disclosed that the government will invest Ksh150 million to equip and upgrade the hospital, guaranteeing modern facilities, quality care, and greater dignity in healthcare delivery.
The government has adopted a public-private partnership model to upgrade and equip hospital equipment across the country, President William Ruto has announced.
The President explained that in the innovative arrangement called fee-for-service, private sector players install and maintain crucial medical equipment, with hospitals only paying for the services offered.
He said the model not only saves national and county governments from spending huge sums of money on purchasing and maintaining expensive equipment, but also reduces waste in the procurement process.
He also pointed out that the arrangement ensures that suppliers ensure the equipment is functional for them to make a financial return while hospitals focus on delivering quality healthcare to patients.
“The primary objective of the government is to treat citizens; owning equipment is secondary. If we can get someone to own the equipment and we get the service, the better for us. We don’t have to incur a huge financial outlay,” he said Wednesday during the commissioning of a KSh130 million modern CT Scan Unit at Nakuru County Referral and Teaching Hospital.
The President is on a development tour of Malava Constituency.
