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The National Medical Supplies Agency (NMSA) has intensified its nationwide distribution efforts under the Free Healthcare Programme, delivering twelve truckloads of essential medicines and medical supplies to Kenema District in a move aimed at strengthening last-mile healthcare delivery.
The intervention highlights NMSA’s growing role in ensuring that critical health commodities reach facilities on time, amid ongoing efforts to improve service delivery across Sierra Leone’s public health system.
At a handover ceremony in Kenema, NMSA’s Director of Quality Assurance, Dr Augustine Solomon Brima, said the shipment forms part of the Agency’s structured quarterly distribution plan designed to maintain consistent supply chains nationwide.
He emphasised that beyond procurement, the Agency is focused on ensuring efficient storage, tracking, and delivery of medicines to prevent shortages at health facilities.
“Our mandate is not just to supply, but to ensure that these medicines reach every facility and ultimately every patient who needs them,” Dr Brima said.
According to him, the delivery was executed in two phases to enhance coordination and accessibility. The first phase saw three truckloads dispatched earlier in the week to the Kenema District Medical Store, containing drugs for malaria, HIV, and tuberculosis, three of the country’s most pressing health challenges.
The second phase, comprising nine truckloads, was formally handed over and distributed strategically: one truckload to Panguma Government Hospital, three to
Kenema Government Hospital, and five to the District Health Management Team (DHMT) for onward distribution to peripheral health units across the district.
Health sector stakeholders say such structured distribution is key to addressing gaps in rural healthcare access, particularly for vulnerable groups including pregnant women, lactating mothers, children under five, persons with disabilities, and survivors of Ebola and COVID-19.
The exercise also drew attention to the issue of accountability in the management of medical supplies. Hon. Festus Mohamed Lansana of the Parliamentary Oversight Committee on Health, who witnessed the ceremony, commended NMSA’s efforts but cautioned against misuse of the commodities.
“These supplies are procured with significant public resources. They must be protected and used strictly for the benefit of the people,” he warned, adding that any diversion or misappropriation would attract legal consequences.
Receiving the supplies on behalf of Kenema Government Hospital, Deputy Matron Emmanuel Komeh described the delivery as timely and critical to sustaining healthcare services in the district. He assured that the commodities would be managed responsibly to improve patient care.
The latest distribution reinforces NMSA’s broader strategy of strengthening supply chain systems and ensuring uninterrupted access to safe and effective medicines, an essential pillar in the government’s drive to improve health outcomes nationwide.
