This archive report was first published on 15 August 2019.
On August 15, 2019, a medical audit report submitted to the Nairobi County Assembly Public Accounts Committee (PAC) revealed a shocking truth about the County government Health department's handling of expired drugs and non-pharmaceuticals in County hospitals.
The report, which focused on Mbagathi County Hospital, one of the four main county hospitals, found that the hospital was storing expired drugs and pharmaceutical items worth an estimated Sh1.4 million.
According to the report, the expired drugs and pharmaceuticals were mostly supplied by the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (Kemsa). The hospital's management could not provide a valid reason for storing the expired drugs, which were meant for over 500,000 residents who seek medical services there.
"It was not clear whether the items were acquired following user requests and procurement plans. The hospital's pharmaceutical department and stores also had expired drugs and pharmaceutical items amounting to Sh1, 410, 826," the report read.
The Auditor General's report on the financial statements of Nairobi City County for the year ended June 30, 2017, had previously criticized County Hospitals for not having a structured and predictable way of procuring drugs, relying instead on the department to supply the drugs.
"Procurement of drugs that are likely to expire in a short while leads to loss of public resources and in some instances, if used, exposes risks to patients in public hospitals," the audit report stated.
The expired drugs included paracetamol, antacids, dental catridges, hydrogen peroxide, ranitidine injection, suxamethonium, ceftazidime, furosemide injection, lignocaine, promethazine and heavy bupivacaine. Others named in the report included levothyroxine, bisacodyl, bupivacaine heavy, rocephine, dextrose, x-pen, gabapentin, amlodipine, darrows, phenytoin injection and amitryptilline.
The Nairobi County health department defended themselves by stating that the reason for the expired drugs and non-pharmaceuticals was the prolonged doctors' strike that occurred from December 2016 to March 2017 and the nurses' strike that followed from June to November 2017.
"The consumption of medication and pharmaceutical items was very low because most of the drugs and pharmaceutical items that expired are normally utilized in the in-patient and at that time we did not have patients admitted in the wards," the executive said in their submissions.
The committee called on the county to develop a policy guiding the procurement and supply of drugs to county hospitals to eliminate ambiguities that lead to the supply of unnecessary and expired drugs.
