To address the drug shortage in Busia County, the County government of Busia has released drugs worth Sh7.3 million to all sub-county hospitals across the county.
County executive committee member in charge of the health Department Ms Beatrice Nakholi noted that the release of drugs is an emergency move to salvage the situation in all public hospitals across the county.
Addressing the media while dispatching the drugs at Matayos sub-county hospital drug store, Ms Nakholi noted that drugs will serve the residents for the next month as they wait for another consignment from Kenya Medical Supply Agency (KEMSA) before the end of the current financial year.
“For the next month we are okay when it comes to drugs, but we are still waiting for more consignments from KEMSA that will push us through to the next financial year,” she noted
The officer said that the county government is putting measures in place to stop drugs theft if there is any.
“As a government, we are also being told that there are people stealing drugs from the hospitals, but the challenge is that we still don’t have evidence,” She said.
“Let members of the public come with evidence of those stealing drugs and we will take action against them, but we will carry out investigations to seal all loopholes that may be used to steal drugs from the hospitals.”
According to Dr Abiud Machuki, Busia County Pharmacist, they are expecting more consignment from Kesma to try and address drug scarcity in the county.
“The consignment we have received today is just part of the consignment we expect and this is the first one any time from today we will be receiving more supplies to take care of the needs of our people as per the order we placed,” he noted
He noted that the department is working with KEMSA to get more drugs adding that the current supply will only last for one month.
“I want to mention that these are not supplies that will last us longer. We are still working with KEMSA to make sure that as the financial year elapses we get enough drugs to last us to the next financial year but we are not doing so good when it comes to drug stock in our hospitals,” said Dr Machuki
The release of the drugs comes as a relief to the health sector in the county considering that the last time Busia County received drugs from KEMSA was in January this year, when sh9 million worth of drugs was supplied.
Drug scarcity in government facilities in the county elicited reactions from the members of the public for the past few weeks but with the intervention from the government, it will play a big role in addressing the shortages.
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