The National Medical Stores wants the government to fully foot the bill for medicines by scaling up their budgetary allocation from 537 billion shillings to 2.5 trillion shillings.
NMS General Manager Moses Kamabare while appearing before the parliament’s committee on health on March 25, 2024, reviewed that about 60% of medicines supplied are procured using funds from development partners which has left the country at their mercy.
According to Kamabare, the committee also questioned why the National Medical Stores continues to supply medicines with short shelf life.
“When NMS delivers on time, even at 100% of what they need, the challenges will still be there. More than 60% of the budget that NMS operates with is by development partners,” Kamabare stated.
He further noted that if they do not have those supplies why should NMS be held responsible for the non-supply of those supplies, so there should be an order fulfillment rate in the future and focus on the amount of money that has been appropriated by parliament.
The National Medical Stores (NMS) was established in 1993 by an Act of Parliament with a three-fold mandate to procure, store, and distribute essential medicines and medical supplies to all government health facilities in the country. NMS has made several strides in ensuring the efficient delivery of its services.
