President William Ruto has said that the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority should consider using locally-made pharmaceutical products.
Speaking on Friday, Ruto said that importing pharmaceutical products is a sabotage to the country.
"At the moment we import 70 per cent of all our pharmaceutical commodities and products. It has been the case for a while and we need to leverage the opportunity that we have pharmaceutical products to manufacture locally, create value locally and create jobs in Kenya," he said.
The President said that manufacturing pharmaceutical products promotes local production.
"My instructions to the ministry and the sector are that in the next two years, we should move our production of local pharmaceutical products from 30 per cent to 50 per cent, and in the next five years we should be able to be self-reliant on pharmaceutical products," he added.
Ruto said the government is working on interventions to make sure local procuring entities prioritise Kenyan manufactured products.
The President added that manufacturing medicine locally is vital for Kenya's development and job creation adding that he has held a discussion with Kemsa to discontinue importation of products that can be produced locally.
"I have had a conversation with the management of Kemsa that they cannot continue to import products that are being manufactured locally, it is sabotage to our local manufacturing industry," he said.
On October 9, the Cabinet directed Kemsa to give locally produced pharmaceutical products priority over imports.
The Cabinet said the move will help promote and bolster local manufacturing.
"To breathe life to the ‘one health’ approach, the Cabinet directed that the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) shall ensure that procurement of locally manufactured pharmaceutical products receives preference over imports," the Cabinet said in a dispatch released by State House.
"This will help in keeping with the administration’s plan to bolster local manufacturing Kenya Build Kenya- as part of the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA)."
Kemsa is a state corporation under the Ministry of Health established under the Kemsa Act, 2013.
It is mandated to procure, store and distribute medical commodities to public health facilities.