The Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) has officially launched a nationwide stocktaking exercise aimed at improving accuracy, accountability, and transparency in the health supply chain.
The initiative, according to the agency, marks a critical step toward complete digitisation of the medical logistics system under the government’s broader Digital Health Superhighway strategy.
Speaking during the launch, Kemsa CEO Waqo Ejersa said the timing of the stocktaking aligns with the government’s shift toward end-to-end digitisation of public services.
He emphasised that Kemsa’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is now ready for deployment and will be closely integrated with national digital health platforms.
“It has come in very timely, because now the government is going completely digital. Our ERP is ready for go-live,” said Ejersa.
He explained that all physical stocktaking activities being carried out at Kemsa will be uploaded into the agency’s Logistics Management Information System (LMIS), which is designed to offer a digital record of commodities across the entire medical supply chain.
“What we do physically here, we will put into our ERP, the logistics management information system for KEMSA, and there is also the national logistics management information system through the DHA [Digital Health Authority], which will hook into the digital health agency,” he said.
According to Ejersa, this digitisation effort is a critical part of the country's evolving health infrastructure and is intended to support the implementation of a track-and-trace model.
Under this model, every medical commodity distributed by Kemsa will be digitally tracked from the warehouse to the health facility where it is dispensed.
“Now the government is going towards track and trace, where commodities from KEMSA will be traced up to the facility,” he said. “This is especially key in the arrangement that we are going forward with, in terms of knowing what KEMSA has supplied each and every facility.”
Ejersa noted that this traceability is not only essential for accountability, but will also become the basis for how health facilities are reimbursed for medical supplies under new policy shifts.
He revealed that the government is moving toward a dispensation-based payment system, meaning facilities will only be paid for the commodities that have actually been used.
“The tendency now is that we will be paid for what has been dispensed at the facility. And that can only be done very well if we do such things as proper stock counting, proper recording, labelling, and proper systems,” he said.
The CEO commended staff members, digital system developers, and logistics personnel for their contributions to building Kemsa's digital infrastructure.
He acknowledged that their input will be crucial in ensuring that health commodities are managed efficiently and that critical information is available in real-time for monitoring, auditing, and planning purposes.
“I want to thank all of you for having some input into our digital systems. It is very, very important,” he added.
The move comes amid ongoing reforms at Kemsa following past challenges on procurement and mismanagement.
The stocktaking and digitisation initiative is part of an aggressive turnaround strategy aimed at restoring public confidence and ensuring that the agency can meet its mandate as the backbone of the health commodity supply chain.
With the launch of the nationwide stocktaking exercise, Kemsa joins other state agencies in aligning with the government’s digital transformation agenda, which includes integration with platforms managed by the Ministry of Health, the Digital Health Authority, and other public health oversight bodies.
Officials stated that the data collected from the current exercise will be instrumental in fine-tuning the rollout of Kemsa's ERP system and ensuring that the digital systems accurately reflect the actual stock and distribution status across the country.
Kemsa’s role in implementing accurate, real-time tracking of medical supplies is expected to play a key part in improving service delivery, reducing wastage, and strengthening accountability across the sector.
