Leaders of Adjumani and Obongi districts have decried the delay to deliver essential drugs which they say has led to continued drug stock-outs in the health facilities....CONTINUE READING
The Adjumani District chairperson, Mr Ben Anyama, said the delay in supplying drugs has cost the lives of many people.
“Just this week, we lost seven people in the hospital. Two weeks ago, we lost about eight people due to lack of drugs. And if the situation does not improve, we may close some of the health centres,” he said in an interview at the weekend.
The assistant district health officer, Mr Henry Lulu, said the district received cycle one of the medicines in October 2023, and since then, it has been grappling with the stock-outs of essential drugs, equipment, and other health supplies.
“We are still, however, trying to verify if the consignment being offloaded will meet the needs based on the orders we have submitted to NMS [National Medical Stores] because our orders are at times distorted,” Mr Lulu said.
He added: “Last financial year, the district received four out of the six drug cycles which have a huge bearing on the management of drugs in the current financial year 2024/2025. Unfortunately, the district did not get additional supplies to cover up the gaps created last financial creating a future dilemma,” he said.
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The Obongi District chairperson, Mr Abibu Buga, expressed disappointment in the government for its failure to have drugs in the health units for a long time.
Mr Buga said Obongi Health Centre IV, which is the main health centre of the district, does not have the necessary drugs needed in the unit.
He added that some of the health centre IIs and IIIs also do not have drugs.
On January 29, the Adjumani Woman MP, Ms Jesca Ababiku, raised the matter in Parliament.
Ms Ababiku called for investigations into why submissions from districts for deliveries of drugs were not correlating with those of the state for drugs received.
Ms Sheila Nduhukire, the public relations officer of National Medical Stores, said the delays in the deliveries are occasioned by the delay in the release of operational funds by the Ministry of Finance.
