Monday, October 28, 2002
Uganda Faces Drug Shortages
By EDWARD OJULU
THE EASTAFRICAN
LIBERALISED DRUG importation may soon cause a shortage of some essential drugs in Uganda as competition and conflicting legislation threaten to drive the National Medical Stores – the parastatal that procures and distributes medicines in the country, out of business.
At stake are vaccines for rabies, cancer, tuberculosis and diabetes drugs, which experts say fetch low profits because of low turnover and are therefore commercially less attractive to importers.
The former monopoly has already lost more than 75 per cent of its market share to private businesses and has warned that it is finding it difficult to import into the country some essential, but low-profit drugs.
An appeal has been made to the government to urgently "harmonise and rationalise conflicting legislation," or risk throwing the country into a severe shortage of some drugs that the private players are not keen to import because of low turnover and profitability.
Robert Rutaagi, the National Medical Stores (NMS) general manager said last week that the country had already experienced shortages of some of the above drugs and vaccines between April and July this year because of NMS's reduced capacity to meet its statutory obligations.
"We are not asking for government subsidies nor are we against the liberalisation policy. NMS can function very well if there was no conflicting legislation," said Mr Rutaagi.
The Ministry of Health has already been informed of the looming problem. The parliamentary committee on social services recently toured the Entebbe-based company and was told that, while the company was grappling with a dwindling market share, its clients, who are mainly government institutions, owed it more than Ush4.7 billion ($2.6 million).
Ironically, some of the big debtors include the Ministry of Health, which owes the NMS Ush1.5 billion ($833,000) and Mulago Hospital – the national referral hospital, which owes NMS Ush606 million ($336,000). Established by the National Medical Stores Act in 1993, NMS was given the mandate to handle the procurement, sale and distribution of all drugs and medical supplies in the country.
The director of Mulago Hospital, Dr Lawrence Kagwa. The hospital owes National Medical Stores $336,000
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