Legislators have this afternoon approved parliament’s Public Accounts Committee- PAC Central Government report recommending that the monopoly of National Medical Stores- NMS be stopped.
The guidelines which were recently sent to District Health Officials indicating that the Local Governments will bear the cost of destroying expired drugs. The district will pay 565,000 Shillings to NMS for every 1000 kilograms of expired drugs. The money covers the cost of collection, transport and destruction.
A study carried out by Kabarole District Health Department shows that 75 percent of patients diagnosed with malaria first take over the counter drugs and only seek proper diagnosis after failing to heal.
Legislators sitting on Public Accounts Committee have this morning blamed the Fort Portal Hospital director Dr. Charles Olara for failing to plan properly and accumulating expired drugs. Dr. Olara was responding to audit queries of 2012/2013 financial year which indicated that the hospital stored expired drugs alongside the good ones.
Members on the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament have questioned Gulu Referral Hospital officials over the expired drugs that the hospital has been using to treat its patients.
It is alleged that Hassan Kakongo bought expired Megometic drug from St Peter’s Drug shop which he used to inject the deceased to control bleeding shortly after giving birth the home of Aisha Nafuna, a traditional birth attendant.
