Parliament report faults National Medical Stores for drug stockouts in hospitals – The Kampala Report

Members of Parliament on the Committee on Statutory Agencies and State Enterprises-Cosase, have blamed the National Medical Stores-NMS for allowing government health facilities going for months without supplying them with essential drugs.

In a 171-page report, the MPs want the Ministry of Finance’s permanent secretary and secretary to the treasury Ramathan Ggoobi to reprimand NMS for failure to do their work. “The committee observed that NMS failed at its duty to make prompt deliveries, which led to drug stockouts and interruptions in treatment schedules. Further, long lead-time affected the effective delivery of health care services to the patients due to the shortages it created,” the report reads in part.

The report by the Auditor General for the period ending June, 30th 2023 focused on regional referral hospitals such as; Masaka, Entebbe, Mbale, China – Uganda Friendship Hospital Naguru, Jinja, Mubende, Fort Sortal, Mbarara, Kabale, Lira, Gulu, Moroto, Hoima, Arua and Soroti and specialised health institutions such as; Mulago National Women Specialized Hospital, Mulago National Referral Hospital, Uganda Virus Research Institute, Butabika, Kawempe, Kiruddu, Cancer Institute, Heart Institute, and Uganda Blood Transfusion Services also observed that NMS failed to collect expired drugs from some of the hospitals which created confusion in storage. “An audit inspection of the Hospitals’ stores and an analysis of end-of-year stock balances for essential medicines revealed that most hospitals including; Fort Portal, Moroto, Jinja, Mubende, Soroti, Lira, Entebbe, Mbale had expired drugs,” the report reads in part.

The committee also recommended that the government increase the money it sends to hospitals for them to meet their key demands to serve the people better. For example, the committee recommended that the government provide 5 billion Shillings to Butabika Hospital to complete its perimeter wall.

The committee observed that of the 13576 patients that had been admitted between June 2022 and June 2023, 2175 had escaped before their treatment.