The National Drug Authority (NDA) and security officials say they are investigating how drugs believed to have been stolen from Uganda’s health facilities are ending up in Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) camps in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Sudan.
Both NDA Spokesperson Mr Abiaz Rwamiri and Luweero Resident District Commissioner (RDC), Ms Miriam Nalubega Sseguya, disclosed that some government health workers who have since been interdicted for drug theft from government facilities confessed to having trafficked them to Congo.
”Currently, we have drug thefts in Luweero District and as I talk, we have identified health workers who are found in connivance of stealing drugs from Luweero hospital and they were trafficking them to Congo to reach ADF camps. This is very bad.” Ms Nalubega said.
Adding that, “The health workers identified so far colluded to steal drugs from Luweero Hospital and traffic them to Congo, where they reached Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) camps.”
Without disclosing how the accused health workers connected with the rebels and transported the drugs in question, Ms Nalubega called the theft both a public health risk and a security threat, urging in-charges to act as whistleblowers and asking why tips about drug theft keep coming from people who do not work in the facilities.
She appealed to all health workers and Ugandans to help security agencies catch the culprits.
According to the authorities, the stolen drugs include 12,000 doses of antiretrovirals (ARVs) for managing Aids, antibiotics and some medical supplies worth Shs 50 million.
The RDC and NDA spokesperson made the revelation during a stakeholder engagement at Luweero District headquarters on October 21, following the arrest of Marion Namugenyi, a midwife at the facility, alongside her two brothers and a security guard, Titus Kura, over drug theft.
Ms Namugenyi has since appeared before court and was remanded at Luzira Prison until November 13 on criminal-related charges.
Mr Rwamwiri added that intelligence shows that some of the stolen drugs end up in the hands of rebels, while some are sold as animal feed.
”They steal them and take them onto a black market. And where do these drugs end? Our intelligence shows most of them are smuggled to southern Sudan, to Congo. And we know what is happening in eastern Congo. Some of them are actually ending up in the hands of rebels. So we are feeding and keeping rebels healthy to come and terrorise us.” He said.
Adding that, ”and that’s why for me I regard anyone involved in the drug crime to be a terrorist. One, you’re denying drugs to sick people who need them. It means you’re sentencing them to death. And now there is also a security issue that you’re giving drugs, you’re aiding, you know, terrorism, rebel activities, by keeping rebels accessing government drugs at a given price. So it’s, something has to be done. We leave that to the district.”
The ADF started as a rebel force in Uganda but has been based in the forests of neighbouring Congo since the late 1990s, and is recognised by Islamic State as an affiliate.
Congo’s army and Ugandan forces have pursued operations against the ADF, but the group’s attacks continue.
Luweero District Health Officer, Dr Innocent Nkonwa, said nine health workers in the district have since been interdicted for drug theft and criminal-related charges, their names already forwarded to the Public Service for their dismissal from service.
As the investigation continues, Mr Abiaz said medicines worth Shs25 billion have been stolen from public health facilities in the last three years, noting that the government loses between 30 and 50 percent of drugs it procures and supplies.
“Where does government get money to supply these drugs? It is our taxes,” he said. Citing that the drugs most often targeted are ARVs, malaria medicines and other essential medicines.
No drugs
Ms Salim Zimula, a resident of Nalongo village in Butuntumula Sub-county, said patients regularly go to government health facilities in the area and are told there are no drugs and are instead sent to private pharmacies, where they pay far more than they can afford.
Taming drug theft
The district has introduced a central pharmacy model. All medicines in a facility are dispensed from a single point.
When a clinician prescribes, the patient or caretaker must collect the drugs from the central pharmacy.
Heads of department submit requisitions only on Mondays and Thursdays, and the medicines are issued to the respective departments. Other days are reserved for emergency orders.
Dr Nkonwa said this limits the quantities held by individual health workers, reduces contact between staff and the store, and gives officials time to follow up and balance books against stock.
Staff at the pharmacy update dispensing logs and the electronic systems. Some facilities use Clinic Master and others e-Registry, and the district wants both to feed into the dispensing logs.
At lower-level facilities without pharmacists or dispensers, nurses and other clinicians will be formally assigned to run the dispensing window.