Agriculture ministry, NDA wrangle over regulation of animal drugs
NDA Chairperson, Dr Medard Bitekyerezo, addresses health workers at Kamuli General Hospital during the NDA week last month. PHOTO BY OPIO SAM CALEB
What you need to know:
Asked if President Museveni's directive has been implemented and her ministry is hijacking a project from a government authority, Dr Ademun said: "You are starting this conversation from the middle so I can't engage with you."
The National Drug Authority (NDA) and the Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industries and Fisheries (MAAIF) are embroiled in a row over who regulates and or vets animal or veterinary drugs in the country.
Sources in the two institutions reveal that the situation has not been helped by a March 19, 2019 letter from the Acting Commissioner of Animal Health, Dr Anne Rose Ademun, to the Secretary to Authority at NDA.
"The MAAIF as a competent government agency responsible for animal health and welfare in the country is mandated to be in the know about all the veterinary inputs that are imported in the country in order to ensure quality and safety of animals. However, under the current arrangements this is not the case. It is very important that the competent authority (MAAIF) for animal health in the country is in control of types, quantities, quality and safety of animals," the letter reads in part.
"The purpose of this letter therefore, is to bring to your attention this anomaly ... All imports of veterinary nature will require to be cleared by the office of the Commissioner animal health henceforth," Dr Ademun's letter concludes.
In writing this letter, Dr Ademun was enforcing a 2016 directive by President Museveni that all animal drugs be vetted by MAAIF.
"Regulating drugs is about checking quality, quantity, procurement, systems, monitoring, use and vetting suppliers; and a lot of money is involved if you control it because the contracts can be big," a source disclosed on Friday.
However, the role currently belongs to NDA under the National Drug Policy and Authority Act 1993 (NDPA Act 1993), which reads: "The drug authority shall be charged with the implementation of the national drug policy and in particular but without derogation of the foregoing, deal with the development and regulation of the pharmacies and drugs in the country..."
Asked why the MAAIF can't regulate animal drugs or under whose mandate it is, the NDA Chairperson, Dr Medard Bitekyerezo, in a telephone interview on Thursday, said: "Just refer to the NDA law (partly quoted above).
"I did not make the law! I found the law in place! The rest ask the new Secretary to the Authority, Mr David Nahamya," he said.
Asked if President Museveni's directive has been implemented and her ministry is hijacking a project from a government authority, Dr Ademun said: "You are starting this conversation from the middle so I can't engage with you."
