DP Ruto now blames gov't for 'importing hospital water'

Speaking on Monday in Nairobi, Ruto wondered why the government imports intravenous fluids also known as drips yet their composition is 95 per cent water and can thus be locally produced.

"We are currently buying health fluids, the drips we have, which is 95% water. So basically we are importing water from other countries and we are paying for it," said Ruto.

The DP who was articulating Kenya Kwanza's health agenda should he win the presidential election promised that his administration would deliberately scale up local manufacturing to create jobs.

"It is time we make sure we scale up our manufacturing locally of pharmaceutical commodities. It must be deliberate and informed by our desire to create local jobs," he said.

He further blamed the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) which he said was ridden by cartels who are making it impossible for local manufacturing of pharmaceutical commodities. 

"I was talking to a gentleman who produces medical commodities and he told me he supplies everywhere else apart from Kenya. He cannot access the Kenyan market yet he is a Kenyan producing in Kenya and it is because of the cartels around KEMSA and that whole space. We must break the cartels and make it possible for manufacturing of pharmaceutical commodities to happen in Kenya," he said.