The Turkana County Government has launched a dedicated hotline for reporting medical supply fraud, theft, and mismanagement across Turkana’s 301 health facilities.
In a statement read by the County Chief Officer for Medical Services, Dr Gilchrist Lokoel, the new hotline (0746196057) will allow members of the public to anonymously report cases such as diversion of drugs, circulation of supplies in unauthorized facilities and private clinics, and unethical practices with health facilities.
For instance, Chief Officer Dr Gilchrist Lokoel unveiled the hotline during the flag-off of Sh 13.8 million in medical supplies earmarked for 104 facilities across the county.
“Despite the fact that we have heightened supervision and strict tracking of supplies, we acknowledge that we cannot be everywhere all the time. It’s against this backdrop that we encourage the public to call us through 0746196057 once they notice pilferage and misuse of commodities,” Dr Gilchrist said.
According to the Chief Officer, the hotline is part of the broader accountability framework to safeguard the integrity of the health system.
Meanwhile, the chief also clarified that the supplies were part of the Sh59 Million request placed to KEMSA in the month of April 2025, expressing confidence that it would push facilities for two to three months before the next round of supplies in September 2025.
“In order to ensure uninterrupted service delivery, we have also begun what we call quantification and forecasting for the next cycle of health products and technologies; all health facilities are preparing for their quarter one orders, projected to cost Sh 120 million,” he added.
Director Health Products and Technologies Dr David Moru, Head of Unit, Strategic Programs Margaret Lokota, Principal Administrator Paul Ekidor, Deputy Directors Primary Health Care Peter Ekope, Health programs monitoring and evaluation. Sarah Esinyen and Administration Rebecca Alimlim were present.
By Peter Gitonga
