MEDS Opens New Company to Serve Private Hospitals as It Marks 40 Years

Mission for Essential Drugs and Supplies (MEDS) has launched a new company called MEDS Devane Company Limited (MDCL). The new company will sell medicines and medical supplies to private hospitals, clinics, pharmacies and laboratories in Kenya. It opens for business on 1 November 2026.

The launch took place on Tuesday in Nairobi during a colourful ceremony to mark MEDS' 40th anniversary. Health Cabinet Secretary Hon. Aden Duale launched the new company, together with a new training school called the MEDS-Strathmore Supply Chain Academy.

MDCL will supply quality medicines, medical consumables, laboratory products, infection prevention items, orthopaedic implants and equipment. It will first serve Kenya, and later it hopes to serve other East African countries.

Rt. Rev. Benard Owuor, Chair of the MDCL Board of Directors, said the private health sector needs a partner that understands how urgent and complex healthcare work is. "As Kenya's healthcare landscape continues to evolve, the private healthcare sector, pharmacies and other healthcare institutions require a commercially responsive partner that understands the urgency, complexity and responsibility of healthcare delivery," he said. "MDCL has been established to meet this need."

He said the company aims to be both successful and trusted. "Our ambition is not only to grow a successful company, but to grow a trusted company," he said. "We believe that commercial success and positive health impact can, and should, go together."

MEDS Chief Executive Officer Dr. Wycliffe Nandama, who is also MDCL's Acting General Manager, said the company was built around what private health providers need. "Today's healthcare customers need more than products on a shelf. They need quality assurance, dependable availability, timely delivery, professional support and a partner who understands that every product supplied can have a direct impact on patient care," he said. "Our commitment is simple: quality products, reliable service and meaningful partnerships."

The company is named after Rev. Sr. Joan Devane, an American medical missionary and pharmacist who started MEDS in 1986 in a small warehouse in Ruaraka, Nairobi, with only 30 products. Rt. Rev. Owuor said her example still guides the work. "Her legacy reminds us that healthcare is not simply about products and transactions; it is about service, trust, professionalism and the wellbeing of communities," he said.

CS Duale praised MEDS for its work on quality assurance, including testing and watching for fake medicines after they reach the market. He noted that MEDS has held World Health Organization prequalification since 2009, plus ISO certifications. He said keeping such high standards for many years "speaks to the discipline of its staff and the strength of its systems."

The Cabinet Secretary also said faith-based health facilities are key partners in the government's universal health coverage plan. He said 876 faith-based facilities have active contracts with the Social Health Authority (SHA), and KSh 29.8 billion has been paid out against claims worth KSh 41.1 billion. "Universal health coverage is realised at the point of care. It depends on a facility being open, a health worker being available, a patient being able to afford treatment, and quality-assured medicine being there when it is needed," he said.

He encouraged MEDS to keep its founding values while preparing for the future. "As you enter your fifth decade, I encourage you to preserve the values on which you were founded while investing in the capabilities the future will demand," CS Duale said. "Kenya needs strong supply systems, skilled health workers and dependable, independent quality testing capacity. MEDS has an important role in each of these areas."

The event was held under the theme "Celebrating 40 Years of Life Saving Health Solutions – Legacy. Impact. Posterity." It brought together representatives of MEDS' founding institutions, the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) and the Christian Health Association of Kenya (CHAK), as well as government leaders, partners, suppliers and staff. Murang'a County Governor Dr. Irungu Kang'ata and Rt. Rev. Cleophas Oseso, Chairman of the MEDS Board of Trustees and Directors, also spoke.