KEMSA CEO Dr. Waqo Ejersa Details Supply Chain Reforms at Kenya Health Summit

 President Ruto Told of KEMSA’s Progress in Ending the “Hakuna Dawa” Syndrome

The Chief Executive Officer of the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA), Dr. Waqo Dulacha Ejersa, has outlined the authority’s transformation in health commodity management, directly addressing President William Samoei Ruto during the Kenya Health Summit that kicked off in Nairobi today.

Dr. Ejersa told the President that KEMSA’s core mandate is to contribute to Universal Health Coverage by ensuring reliable availability of medicines and other essential health commodities across the country.

He said the authority has made significant progress in addressing the persistent “Hakuna Dawa” syndrome, with its order fill rate rising from approximately 40 per cent to more than 90 per cent over the past three to four years.

“Our business is to ensure commodity security,” Dr. Ejersa said, stressing that the ultimate objective is to ensure that medicine shortages become a thing of the past.

He said KEMSA’s target, as agreed with the President, is to achieve a 100 per cent order fill rate. He added that, in public health supply chains, an order fill rate of more than 95 per cent is considered very good.

Smarter Procurement Transforms Commodity Availability

Dr. Ejersa attributed the improvement to a major rethink of KEMSA’s procurement strategy.

He explained that when the authority reviewed its operations, it was pursuing approximately 3,800 molecules for procurement. KEMSA subsequently sat down with its technical teams and county pharmacists to determine which commodities were truly essential.

The review established that the authority could focus on approximately 500 key stock-keeping units (SKUs).

This enabled KEMSA to embrace “smart buying”, concentrating resources on the priority commodities most needed by health facilities rather than attempting to procure thousands of products simultaneously.

The authority also reviewed its previous practice of holding six months’ worth of stock.

“Shrink and grow,” Dr. Ejersa explained, referring to the decision to reduce stockholding to approximately three months and replenish supplies as necessary.

He told the President that this approach helped drive KEMSA’s order fill rate substantially higher.

Digitisation Gives KEMSA End-to-End Visibility

Dr. Ejersa said digitisation has been central to KEMSA’s transformation, providing the authority with real-time visibility across its supply chain.

He demonstrated how KEMSA’s digital dashboard can show the authority’s order fill rate, the number of orders being processed, their monetary value and the health facilities and counties being served.

At the time of the presentation, the dashboard showed 984 orders valued at more than Sh500 million. The orders were serving approximately 855 health facilities across 35 counties.

The system also showed that KEMSA had pushed more than Sh500 million worth of commodities to the facilities.

Dr. Ejersa emphasised that visibility is critical because it enables KEMSA to make its operations traceable, auditable and transparent.

## KEMSA Moves Towards a Paperless Operation

The CEO told President Ruto that KEMSA is now fully paperless in its operations.

He said the digital system enables the authority to track transactions and monitor the movement of commodities across the supply chain, while officials can drill down to individual health facilities to establish exactly what has been ordered, processed and delivered.

The next step, he said, is to connect KEMSA’s systems to the Digital Health Architecture (DHA), creating the foundation for one national Logistics Management Information System (LMIS).

Such integration would provide a unified view of health commodity logistics across the country and further strengthen supply-chain coordination.

## Direct Doorstep Delivery to Health Facilities

Dr. Ejersa also highlighted changes in KEMSA’s distribution model.

He told President Ruto that KEMSA delivers commodities directly to health facilities rather than depositing them at county or sub-county stores.

Under the doorstep delivery model, medicines and other health products are taken directly to the facility that placed the order.

Dr. Ejersa said KEMSA is the only agency operating this particular doorstep delivery model, noting that governors are familiar with the system because supplies are delivered directly to facilities within their counties.

The model is intended to shorten the distribution chain and ensure that commodities reach the point where they are needed without unnecessary intermediate storage and handling.

## Warehouse Shifts Cut Delivery Times

The KEMSA CEO further explained how changes in warehouse operations have dramatically reduced order turnaround times.

When the current reforms began, KEMSA warehouses operated largely like conventional offices, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Management questioned whether such a schedule was appropriate for a national health commodity agency and introduced a shift system running from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Under the new arrangement, some employees report at 7 a.m. and leave at 4 p.m., while others report at 10 a.m. and leave at 7 p.m.

Dr. Ejersa said the system has improved efficiency and accelerated the processing of orders.

For rural health facilities, order turnaround time has fallen from approximately 24 days to less than two weeks.

For hospitals, the turnaround time has dropped from about 20 days to fewer than 10 days.

## KEMSA’s Transformation Supports Universal Health Coverage

Dr. Ejersa’s presentation at the Kenya Health Summit highlighted a broader transformation of KEMSA from a traditional procurement and distribution agency into a more data-driven, digitally enabled and responsive health commodity management institution.

The rise in the order fill rate from about 40 per cent to more than 90 per cent, the focus on priority commodities, real-time supply-chain visibility, paperless operations, direct facility delivery and faster order turnaround times represent significant changes in how essential health commodities are managed.

For Dr. Ejersa, however, the ultimate measure of success is whether Kenyans can walk into public health facilities and find the medicines they need.

As KEMSA works towards its 100 per cent order fill-rate target, the reforms are expected to play a central role in supporting the Government’s Universal Health Coverage agenda and making the “Hakuna Dawa” syndrome a thing of the past.