The Ministry of health headed by Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki has responded to an exposé by the Daily Nation over drugs.
In an article published on Friday, November 16, the media house claimed that the state had run out of cartridges, known as GeneXpert, used to print out results for Tuberculosis (TB) patients in public hospitals.
The ministry, however, contradicted revealing that those cartridges had not really run out. Only counties with high burden of TB cases were experiencing a shortage.
Taking to social media on Thursday, the ministry clarified that the state had embarked on a process of redistributing the apparatus from those facilities with sufficient stocks to those that ran low.
“The ministry together with counties have begun a process of redistribution of the cartridges from facilities that have sufficient stocks to those that are running low,” read the notice.
The notice by the Director of Medical Services, Dr. Kioko Jackson, also explained that they are committed to ensuring the availability of adequate screening kits and that patients will not experience disruption of the service.
“The country is to receive the first shipment of 232,421 more cartridges by mid next week and distribution to all counties is expected to be completed in two weeks,” continued the notice.
The state has also begun the process of procuring a second consignment of 231,000 additional cartridges.
On Friday, the police lashed out at the paper after an exposé claiming that they received bribes to allow Al-Shabaab militia access the country.
The police described the story as full of unfair inferences and distortions of the report.
Article source: https://www.kenyans.co.ke/news/34809-health-ministry-responds-after-daily-nation-damning-article-drugs