Members of the Uasin Gishu County Assembly have passed a motion asking the Department of Health to reopen Revolving Fund Pharmacies that were closed about two years ago.
Nominated MCA Mary Goretti Boroswa while moving the motion lamented that as a result of the pharmacies’ closure, many lives have been lost as patients could not afford drugs being sold at private pharmacies.
Revolving Fund Pharmacies that the Uasin Gishu County Executive Committee Member for Health directed they be closed were managed by the Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare (AMPATH) and sold mainly drugs for chronic diseases among them tuberculosis, cancer, diabetes, High Blood Pressure among others.
“As a Committee of Health, when the pharmacies were closed, we took the initiative of going round the hospitals with those facilities and whatever we got was so paining because the pharmacies were cushioning the county especially when the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (KEMSA) had not delivered the drugs to counties,” noted Boroswa.
“We were enjoying these services before revolving fund pharmacies were closed. This was a disservice to health caregivers and users,” she added.
Leader of Majority Josphat Lowoi seconded the motion pointing out that it was time the County Government of Uasin Gishu re-opened the Revolving Fund Pharmacies which he said were offering good services to locals.
Lowoi who is the Karuna/Meibeki MCA further noted that with health services being a devolved function, it was the duty of the county to prioritize the health of its locals.
“The drug given by those pharmacies cannot be dispended at local health facilities. Hospitals would tell patients to buy them from a chemist and this is a gap they were filling in,” noted the MCA.
Health CECM Dr. Eveline Rotich when she was summoned by the Uasin Gishu County Assembly in 2019 over the matter defended the decision to close down the Revolving Fund Pharmacies after what she said was a breach of the agreement by stocking drugs that had not been agreed on earlier.
“The revolving fund pharmacies breached the MoU by, for example, stocking drugs that had not been agreed upon, thus creating a conflict of interest with the county government,” Dr. Rotich told the MCAs, as quoted by the Star.
There were over 60 Revolving Fund Pharmacies across Uasin Gishu County, the majority of which were stationed at the County Health Facilities and the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital.
They offered services to at least 11,000 patients.
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