ARVs to be in public health facilities by Friday – Kagwe

 

People living with HIV will from Friday access ARVs at the nearest designated facilities, the Ministry of Health has said.

Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said on Wednesday there are sufficient ARVs to cater for all people living with HIV across the country.

He said the drugs are at the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority and are currently being distributed to health facilities.

“By the end of this week, everybody will have the ARVs. We have agreed with the US to use the same system of distribution as we negotiate a new contract,” the CS told National Assembly’s Departmental Committee on Health.

The country has been facing an acute shortage of ARVs, with Homa Bay being the most affected county.

The shortage had been caused by a tax row between Kenya and USAID, which eschewed Kemsa and shipped ARVs and test kits to through a private US company, Chemonics International.

The Kenyan government demanded Sh90 million in importation taxes on the drugs, saying it wasn’t a tax-exempt government to government donation. The tax has since been waived.

The consignment valued at Sh1.1 billion had been lying at the port since January 18 following the stalemate.

On Wednesday, Kagwe said the dependency on foreigners to provide ARVs to Kenyans is not tenable.

“Uganda manufactures its ARVs. We have no choice but to go in that direction. I have talked to Uganda and India in the event we have a shortage and need a fall back plan. We just have to budget for some of our health issues,” he told legislators.

Kagwe said the ministry proactively engaged the national Treasury to provide Sh500 million in the supplementary estimates that would be used to pay the importation duty.

“The unexpected delivery by a private company was not communicated in good time to allow for planning and avoiding funds for taxes,” he explained.

The CS said the US government, during a recent meeting with the ministry, had indicated that it would like to use a third party and not Kemsa.

For the last five years, since September 2015, USAID donations have been managed through a five-year contract with Kemsa, but it lapsed on 24 December 2020.

The contract was extended to April 23, but the terms of the contract were reviewed only for warehousing and distribution and not procurement.

Seme MP James Nyikal said Kenyans need to be assured that there would be no hitches in the procurement and distribution of ARVs in the future.

Cherengany MP Joshua Kutuny said the ministry should not enter into any deals with Chemonics International since the firm has been adversely mentioned in other countries.

“This firm was mentioned for malpractices in Nigeria,” he said. 

Kagwe said they had informed the US that they were not comfortable dealing with the firm.

“We do not know them. We were not involved in the negotiations with Chemonics, so we are not prepared to sign a contract with it,” he added.   BY THE STAR