The Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) is under fire after flagging off and supplying toxic antiretrovirals (ARVs) to HIV/AIDs patients across the country with the CS for Health Mutahi Kagwe saying “government is looking into it.”
For more than 12 months, Kenyans living with HIV have not been able to access ARVs following a standoff between the government of Kenya and USAID on who should distribute the drugs. The government had slapped USAID with hefty taxes.
The pressure was mounting on the Government through the Ministry of Health to resolve the impasse and save the patients the pain they are going through. The matter is yet to be resolved. But out of the blues, KEMSA flagged off trucks carrying ARVs.
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It has now emerged that the government had phased out the ARV drugs in the country in 2019 due to their adverse side effects on patients. It is said that the drugs are poisonous and had been removed from the market.
The ARV drugs that had been phased out had been lying in the KEMSA warehouse for months now, despite the directive to have them disposed of. It seems KEMSA is out to kill Kenyans and the Ministry of Health is busy overseeing this.
In fact, in March 2020, KEMSA indicated that it had destroyed the toxic drugs and that they were no longer in stock only for it to release the same to innocent Kenyans. Stakeholders are calling for those responsible to be punished. But this is Kenya.
The phased-out drug was Zidovudine/Lamivudine/Nevirapine, which the Ministry of Health had indicated would no longer be used in the country. Is the government tired of people living with HIV and now want them dead?
Read More: Kenyans Lost 2.3 Billion In Covid-19 Items Procurement Scandal at KEMSA