The Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) and Fintech Kenya have released a mobile based commodity tracking application for monitoring and evaluating drugs for programmes supported by the ministries of Public Health and Medical Services.
The app will be rolled out in all 47 counties as part of the automation and standardisation of commodities tracking process.
The initiative is a public-private partnership between the Centre for Disease Control’s m-health and KEMSA’s e-mobile platform.
According to cabinet secretary for health James Macharia, the move is in line with achieving the Vision 2030 goals of ICT integration.
“In delivering to some of the Vision 2030 objectives of ICT integration in service delivery, the automation of KEMSA’s functions and business processes to improve efficiency and effectiveness in the medical supplies ordering system,” Macharia said.
“This transformative instrument will help with ordering supplies and also reporting of consumption which is a first in the public health sector.”
The service will be available through a basic GSM phone and from USSD, enabling the government to track consumption of medical supplies through a mobile phone.
Public health facility workers and county health management teams in charge of requisitions will receive a mobile phone and subscription to enable the rollout of the service.
John Munyu, KEMSA chief executive officer (CEO), said the commodity tracking will further enable all the counties to receive allocations according to their needs.
“The Ministry of Health and KEMSA identified the need to monitor resources and supplies that stakeholders may utilize especially in health facilities that have no access to computers,” said Munyu.
“This commodity tracking service will help bridge capacity gaps, inform on additional outreach activities and promote equitable distribution of resources so that all health facilities have access to the same commodities.”
Fintech adds that the system will help health personnel make orders straight to KEMSA bypassing the bureaucracy in government.
“The system works in such a way that each health facility will have a unique mobile number registered to it, and the designated resource will be required to subscribe to the service upon which they get a unique code to access the platform,” said Tony Mbugua, general manager of Fintech.
“On registration, the system allows the authorized personnel to place an order, track the delivery process or even make queries directly from KEMSA.”
