NAIROBI, Kenya Aug 18 – President William Ruto was on Tuesday taken through KEMSA’s digital transformation programme during a visit to its exhibition stand at the Kenya Health Summit in Nairobi.
The authority demonstrated how digital systems are being used to improve efficiency, accountability and visibility across the health supply chain, alongside doorstep delivery of essential commodities to health facilities.
KEMSA said its order fill rate currently stands at 90 per cent, up from 40 per cent three years ago, ensuring health facilities receive essential medicines and medical supplies they need.
The authority also highlighted its Paperless KEMSA system, which is designed to streamline operations, improve efficiency and strengthen accountability across the supply chain.
Under its last-mile delivery model, KEMSA is taking essential health commodities directly to health facilities, including those serving hard-to-reach communities.
The KEMSA visit came shortly after Ruto said the Government’s extensive health reforms over the past three years had begun to deliver measurable results.
Opening the two-day Kenya Health Summit at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre, Ruto said 32.3 million Kenyans had registered with the Social Health Authority (SHA), compared with eight million under the defunct National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF).
He said SHA had treated more than eight million people over the past two years, while more than KSh209 billion had been received and over KSh178 billion paid to contracted health facilities across all 47 counties since October 2024.
Ruto said the reforms had also expanded access to primary healthcare, with 107,800 Community Health Promoters reaching more than nine million households and helping identify health risks early.
“For the first time, we have built a nationwide health network whose first point of contact is not necessarily a hospital bed, but the doorstep of a Kenyan home,” he said.
Through the Primary Health Care Fund, the Government has disbursed KSh23.3 billion to support more than 20 million outpatient visits, benefiting over 15 million Kenyans, while KSh17 billion has supported maternal healthcare, including deliveries.
Ruto said the Government had also facilitated more than 500,000 surgeries under SHA and provided treatment to more than 50,000 cancer patients, compared with 7,000 under NHIF.
The number of health facilities covered by SHA has risen to more than 10,700, he said.
The President also cited the National Equipment Services Programme, under which 850 modern medical equipment units worth KSh9.7 billion have been delivered to hospitals in 44 counties.
The equipment includes digital X-ray, dialysis and MRI machines, CT scanners and ultrasound equipment.
Ruto described the health reforms as one of the most consequential social transformations in Kenya’s history and urged Kenyans to safeguard the gains from disruption whenever governments change.
“Universal healthcare must become part of our national covenant; not an achievement of a government, a party or a President but of the people and of the Republic,” he said.
The President said the reforms had established what he described as a comprehensive legal, financial, institutional, community and digital architecture for Universal Health Coverage.
The Kenya Health Summit is bringing together national and county governments, health sector stakeholders, development partners and private-sector players to assess progress on the reforms and address remaining gaps in making healthcare accessible to all Kenyans.
Ruto was accompanied to the KEMSA stand by Deputy President Kithure Kindiki, Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi, National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula, Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale and other senior government officials.
Also present were United Nations Resident Coordinator Garry Conille, Cabinet Secretaries, Principal Secretaries, Members of Parliament, members of the diplomatic corps, development partners and private-sector representatives.
The summit is being held under the theme “Reform Delivered; Health as a Right.”
