Employees of the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) have been colluding with unscrupulous traders to supply expired drugs to the market, it has emerged.
The revelation comes after an operation by the Police and the Pharmacy and Poisons Board found a huge consignment of surgical gloves, X-ray protective gowns, drugs, surgical syringes and sutures labelled as government property at a private residence in Parklands, Nairobi.
Equipment used to repackage drugs and change expiry dates was also found at the same location.
Police seized the supplies and arrested a man in connection with the matter.
Joshua Plekwa, a Senior Inspector at the Poisons board, confirmed that most of the drugs were expired.
[caption caption="KEMSA Headquarters in Nairobi"]
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Drugs that have stayed past their expiry date are usually innefective or worse, toxic.
It emerged that key players in the trade are affiliated with KEMSA officials, making it easy for the drugs to be distributed at various free medical camps.
According to KEMSA, drugs given for free at medical camps should still have a shelf life of 6 months, and therefore cannot be distributed to hospitals.
KEMSA acting chief executive Fredrick Wanyonyi has been summoned by Senators to provide an explanation on the Auditor-General's report that indicated the agency had stocks of expired drugs worth Sh323 Million.
In his report, the Auditor-General noted that KEMSA was unable to explain why it had expired drugs while hospitals across the country faced shortages.
[caption caption="Health PS Peter Tum with acting KEMSA CEO Fredrick Wanyonyi (L-R)"]
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