Unqualified vets operating veterinary drug shops, NDA reports

KAMPALA – National Drug Authority (NDA) has reported an increase in the number of fake veterinary doctors operating drug shops.

This was confirmed on Friday after the conclusion of a veterinary compliance monitoring and support supervision exercise both in public and private veterinary drug outlets.

The exercise was conducted in the districts of Nakasongola, Nakaseke, Luwero and Wakiso in central region.

According to Abiaz Rwamwiri, the Public Relations Manager, National Drug Authority inspected, 95 drug shops, a pharmacy, 3 district veterinary cold chain facilities, 8 animal feed shops and an agrochemical shop.

Rwamwiri says, during the operation, NDA noted non-compliance of issues that included; leaving unqualified attendants in veterinary drug outlets (qualified veterinarians leave their wives, husbands, children to sell drugs), improper storage of light sensitive drugs, operating veterinary drug outlets without valid NDA license, debilitated veterinary cold chain facility (lack of power backup), stocking vaccines in domestic rather than pharmaceutical refrigerators, lack of temperature monitoring devices and charts among others.

Also, NDA closed 15 drug shops due to serious no-compliance issues and impounded 55 boxes of drugs valued at over Shs 150 million.

It also impounded over one million doses of livestock vaccines which were found poorly stored from the 18 drug shops and in a pharmacy.

Out of the impounded million vaccines, 20,700 PPR vaccine doses and 2,550 Rabies vaccine doses were quarantined for destruction at both Luwero and Nakaseke districts due to poor cold facilities that compromised the effectiveness of the vaccines.

“More than 108 veterinary drug outlets were visited out of which 15 were closed due to serious non compliances issues and 55 boxes of veterinary drugs worth of Shs150 million were impounded. We also found over 1million doses of veterinary vaccines poorly stored and these have been impounded for destruction,” says Rwamwiri.

He says, this was part of NDA ‘s routine post market surveillance activities intended to protect the human and animal population from drugs and healthcare products that are substandard, counterfeit, unauthorized and unqualified persons handling drugs among others.

We appeal to the public to be vigilant and report any drug outlets that do not comply with standards on our toll-free line 0800101999, said Rwamwiri.

Lt. Col. James Mwesigye, the Resident City Commissioner (RCC), Mbarara also a renowned cattle farmer in Sembabule district, condemned NDA operations targeting employees and leaving out business owners running the veterinary outlets without any idea related to veterinary services.

“You cannot catch a worm and leave out the big fish in the waters. Why don’t they go for their bosses?” Mwesigye asked

Mwesigye added that such NDA operations should continue due to the consistent public outcry by livestock farmers decrying fake drugs in the Ugandan open market.

Dr Andrew Bakashaba, the District Veterinary Officer (DVO) Mbarara, says the veterinary profession is faced with the challenge of private veterinary practitioners who have commercialized veterinary services with unscrupulous practices.

“We have all sorts of private veterinary practitioners with different qualifications but what I know for someone to be registered as a practicing veterinarian; they must be having a Diploma in Animal Production as the minimum qualification as per the Uganda Veterinary Board Regulations. So, this business of someone completing a farm school and is also injecting animals is not allowed,” said Bakashaba.

He appealed to farmers to always ask for a license from veterinary practitioners whenever they come to their farms.

“As Mbarara district, we have embarked on registration of all the private veterinary practitioners sometimes we even work with them, supervise and we are responsible for the mentioned actions. So, we advise farmers to only use the accredited veterinary practitioners,” said Bakashaba.

The National Drug Authority (NDA) is a government-owned organization in Uganda that was established in 1993 by the National Drug Policy and Authority Statute which began its operations in 1994.

In 2000, it became the National Drug Policy and Authority (NDP/A) Act, Cap. 206 of the Laws of Uganda mandated it to regulate drugs in the country, including their manufacture, importation, distribution, and licensing.

The Act established a National Drug Policy and National Drug Authority to ensure the availability, at all times, of essential, efficacious and cost-effective drugs to the entire population of Uganda as a means of providing satisfactory healthcare and safeguarding the appropriate use of drugs.

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Local leaders protest over dormant administrative units

HOIMA – More than 68 leaders from the newly created administrative units in Hoima district have expressed dismay over government’s failure to code their sub-counties and town councils.

The administrative units were created in 2019 and up to date, they are still not operational and they do not have sub-county chiefs and even bank accounts.

They include; Kiganja, Kapaapi, Kisukuma, Bombo, Kabaale, Buraru, Kijongo and Bulindi town council among others.

In protest, the leaders that included the LCIIs and Councilors stormed the office of the LCV Chairman protesting the continued idleness of their administrative units which has rendered them irrelevant.

Led by Godfrey Mwesigwa Musonga, the LC III Chairperson, Kiganja sub-county, the leaders handed over a petition to the Chief Administrative Officer, Hoima Richard Mugolo demanding an explanation as to why the government is delaying to code these lower local government units.

In their petition, they explained that since 2018, the government has been promising to code the administration units in vain.

They noted that people voted for them expecting them to offer better services but since they took oath in May this year, they have never held any council sitting nor had offices.

They said that the local governments are mandated to supervise the implementation of policies and decisions making through councils but currently this mandate is compromised.

He wondered why the government created administrative units before getting prepared for its operations. Musonga further noted that all the revenue collections are made by their mother sub-counties which do not remit any coin to these administrative units.

These sub-counties and town councils were supposed to get COVID-19 funds worth Shs30 million; unfortunately, they were left out and all the money was given to the mother administrative units.

The local leaders in their petition argued that their areas are missing on several government projects such as Operation Wealth Creation because they are not always considered during the planning process.

“We are losing a lot of revenue to our mother administrative units because we have no accounts, so we are asking the CAO to allow us to open accounts and start collecting revenue from our areas and carryout our operations, if not government should come out and close all these administrative units instead of continuing to hoodwink us,” said Mwesigwa Musonga.

Hassan Kugonza, the LC III Chairperson, Kabaale sub-county which is hosting Hoima International Airport that is under construction says, the mother sub-counties do not mind about their operations and there is a lot of imbalance in resource allocation.

He demanded that the government expedites the process of coding these administrative units to ensure that the local people get adequate services.

Kugonza also noted that they wasted a lot of resources as they campaigned to get voted as sub-county and town council chairpersons and councillors. Unfortunately, they have not received any allowance since they do not conduct council meetings.

“We are not happy with the way the government is treating us, we cannot even offer services to people who voted for us. They think we are incompetent so we need this matter to get addressed as soon as possible and if they gave us empty administrative units, we should be told instead of wasting our time,” he said.

Moses Kajura, a Councillor for Persons with Disabilities said, they are tired of waiting and demand that the government comes out and make pronouncements over this matter. He noted that they have failed to serve their people because they have no offices to advocate for the issues affecting the electorates.

When contacted for a comment, Hoima district Chief Administrative Officer, Richard Mugolo said, the Ministry of Local Government and Finance are aware of their concerns adding that their issues are being handled.

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Amuru farmers receive rice processing machine worth Shs 80m

AMURU – Amuru farmers under their umbrella organization Pabo Rice Farmers’ Cooperative have received a rice processing machine worth Shs 80m.

The rice processing machine will be stationed in Pabbo town council, Amuru district.

Initially, the farmers used to struggle to process their rice to international standards. Now, they will be able to export their rice to the international market.

The machine has been procured through the Agriculture Cluster Development Project under the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Industry in partnership with the farmers.

Members under their cooperative contributed 33% and the Ministry 67%, according to the district Commercial Officer Samuel Kidega.

Kidega says, the machine will increase production among the members and they will be able to tap into the Southern Sudan market.

The machine has the capacity to process 1,000 tons of rice per hour.

“The machine has been stationed in Pabbo, since they are the biggest producers of rice in the district. As we talk now, the warehouse is already complete and any time the machine will be installed,” said Kidega

Grace Akello Abola, Chairperson of the cooperative said, previously they would take a lot of time to process the rice since they grow a lot and now that the new machine is in place, production will even double.

According to Abola, these developments comes with other opportunities like employment for the youth who will be contracted to run the facility.

Evelyne Akumu, a member of the cooperative said, previously they would incur extra cost in transporting their rice to Gulu City.

“Transport costs have been cut, the funds that we have been using will help us for other activities,” she said

The cooperative has more than 500 members and it was started in 1987, but due to the insurgency between the government and Lord Resistance army (LRA), most activities were put on hold.

The cooperative revived its activities in 2014.

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