Editor's Review

  • Some of the drugs given to patients in top public hospitals are unregistered while others are toxic.
  • Kemsa was named among the distributors giving Kenyans bad medicine

An audit by the Pharmacy and Poisons Board (PPB) revealed that some of the drugs given to patients in top public hospitals are unregistered while others are toxic.

The board said this could jeopardise the safety, efficacy and quality of the country’s health care.

According to PPB some of the medicines being administered are not registered by the board, meaning they are either brought into the country illegally or do not meet the required standards and are sold illegally.

“Some of the drugs are distributed by the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (Kemsa). We wonder why an entity entrusted with ensuring Kenyans get quality drugs can distribute medicines that are not registered by the board,” PPB chief executive Fred Siyoi said.

The regulator has impounded unregistered drugs.

Should they be found to be of poor quality or toxic, the manufacturers will be held responsible, the board said.