Mung’aro Introduces New Method to Curb Medicine Theft

By Kalama Mshomi 

Email, thecoastnewspaper@gmail.com

Kilifi County government has introduced new ways to stop the stealing of medical supplies.

Gideon Mung’aro, the governor, warned that any individual caught stealing medicines would be immediately terminated from their positions, and so deal with the previous cycle of arrests and bonds release that allowed offenders to return to work.

“Our medicines are supplied by KEMSA, but in cases of emergencies, doctors have been instructed to purchase medicines from local chemists instead of waiting for government supplies.”

In this emergency situation, the medics are also allowed to buy the required items from wholesalers in Mombasa or elsewhere in the country.

To enhance the prevention of theft, the county has implemented a code alert system to track all its vehicles supplying medicines to health facilities.

This system, according to the governor, triggers an alert if any discrepancies occur from change of course or route, thus, ensuring immediate action and accountability.

“The system KEMSA used was that medicines were sent from Nairobi to the needy dispensary that I want to stop.”

According to him all medicines will be tracked with a special code on the vehicle and any tampering of it or change of with route will send a message instantly for action.

He complained medics and unscrupulous workers previously caught and those handed over to the police were released by the court.

“But from now henceforth, anyone caught with stolen medicines will be fired. We will meet in court while they are at home, not while they are still working.”

The governor made the remarks at the Kilifi County Referral Hospital on July 23, 2024 when addressing concerns about the lack of dialysis machines that had previously caused distress among patients.

“We were checking, and the good thing is that I found the client who was complaining that dialysis wasn’t working. I heard there was a broken water pump, but it’s being repaired. We purify the water for dialysis and don’t use tap water, so the broken pump caused the crisis. But now, everything is working in both Malindi and Kilifi County Referral Hospitals.”

In response to the dialysis machine issue, he said that the situation had been rectified and promised future improvements.

“To the dialysis patients who faced issues, we apologize for the mistake. It was a water problem, which has now been fixed. We will have a backup to ensure that future disruptions are minimized.”

The governor disclosed plans to increase the number of dialysis beds saying they were trying to find the space where they  would add more beds in the next 90 days.

“So we will have 14 beds in Kilifi Hospital and will also add more in Malindi. We have many patients needing kidney dialysis, and we need more facilities.”

He added that the additional dialysis machines were acquired through the Hungarian Embassy’s support emphasizing that no county funds were used. 

“When I came to this county, there was only one dialysis bed, which was bought by the previous government.”