Presidential directive: NDA closes two pharmacies
Targeted. Eco Pharmacy at Mulago hospital. The pharmacy’s branch at Kiruddu hospital has been closed by NDA. PHOTO BY STEPHEN OTAGE
What you need to know:
- Mr Nathan Muinda, the general manager at Eco Pharmacy, said Mulago Hospital has given them a grace period up to end of the year when their licence expires.
The National Drug Authority (NDA) has closed two private pharmacies operating within two public hospitals following a recent presidential directive.
The two are Eco Pharmacy and Good Life Pharmacy, which have been operating in Kiruddu and Kawempe referral hospitals, respectively.
President Museveni, in a September 30 directive, argued that private pharmacies operating in public health facilities are owned by health workers who, instead of prescribing government medicines, recommend the sale of their own drugs.
Mr James William Tamale, the head of regions at NDA, said although they are leaving some pharmacies in other government health centres to operate until the end of the calendar year when their contracts will expire and not be renewed, Eco Pharmacy and Good Life Pharmacy had not been licensed.
“The ones in Mulago and Hoima hospitals had been licensed and there would be legal repercussions [if we closed them] but their contracts won’t be renewed. The ones we did not know are those of Kiruddu and Kawempe, which we just got to know last week,” Mr Tamale said in an interview yesterday.
Although Mr Tamale said the two pharmacies were closed last Friday, the one in Kawempe Hospital, located on Level Seven, was still open by yesterday afternoon when we visited and they were dispensing drugs. However, he said: “These are acting in total defiance because all those, which did not have licenses at Kawempe and Kiruddu, were operating in total contravention of the NDA law.”
Dr Nehemiah Katusiime, the executive director of Kawempe General Hospital, when asked why the pharmacy was still operating despite the closure, referred this newspaper to NDA. “I have not climbed there [seventh floor] and I don’t know. I am not aware ...It is not me who does [regulates] it,” Dr Katusiime said.
Mr Nathan Muinda, the general manager at Eco Pharmacy, said Mulago Hospital has given them a grace period up to end of the year when their licence expires. “It is a presidential directive. He has a deeper part of our presence. We have been given up to end of this year to operate. NDA gives us an annual licence and they are not renewing the licence for next year,” he said.
