Drug theft cripples service delivery in Busoga, says IGG

The theft of government drugs by cartels across the country has placed the lives of millions of Ugandans meant to benefit, in harm’s way.

These cartels involve medical staff, law enforcement officers and unscrupulous individuals who infiltrate government hospital supply chains to steal and repackage government drugs and resell them at private clinics.

The other government drugs are smuggled across the porous border to the neighbouring Kenya, DRC and South Sudan.

 Busoga is one of the sub-regions most prone to drug thefts.
Sources said the medical Superintendent of Bugiri General Hospital, Dr Abubakar Nakendo, is on the run after he was accused of extortion, maladministration, and theft of government stores and selling them at his privately-owned Bugiri Medical Services.

The Deputy Inspector General of Government (IGG), Ms Anne Twinomugisha Muhairwe, recently directed the Bugiri District Police Commander, Mr Godwin Ochaki , to arrest Dr Nakendo and have him interdicted with immediate effect.

“Following several complaints of extortion, maladministration, and theft of government stores against Dr Nakendo, the medical Superintendent of Bugiri General Hospital we conducted an on-spot inspection at the hospital on December 14, 2023 and found him to be absent. We contacted him on his phone number… and asked him to report to the facility. He switched off his phone and remained unreachable until the end of the inspection at 11pm,” the letter reads in part.

 The letter added: “The community then guided the inspectorate team to his private clinic at Bugiri Medical Services in Bugiri Town where we discovered medical supplies belonging to the government including blood marked “Government of Uganda not for sale”. The same supplies were not available at the government medical facility, Bugiri General hospital,”
 During an impromptu inspection at the hospital, it was discovered that the medical superintendent was also perpetually absent at the facility.

According to officials, the perusal of the attendance register revealed that 11 staff had reported for evening duty and Dr Nakendo had not reported to the hospital that day and always signed amongst the last, a trick, which enabled him to sign the register when he was absent.

The team also noted a shortage of essential medical supplies at Bugiri hospital. Staff reported having no access to antiseptics, gloves, blood, medicines and that patients were compelled to purchase their own medications. 

During the inspection, some of the medical supplies were found at the private facility belonging to Dr Nakendo including condoms marked “Government of Uganda – not for sale” and blood packets from the Uganda Blood Bank, also marked “not for sale,” which were being sold to the public.

Dr Nakendo, whose whereabouts remain unknown, declined to comment on the matter when contacted by phone.

The Resident District Commissioner (RDC) of Bugiri, Mr Paul Mwidu Kalikwani, said the investigation by the IGG is ongoing in the district.

He  said the facility serves a large population in the neighbouring districts including Butaleja, Busia and Tororo.

“Ever since the IGG left here they gave instructions to DPC to have Dr Nakendo arrested and statements recorded. The efforts of the DPC and the entire police have not yielded results,” he said.

 The Bugiri District Health Officer (DHO), Dr Stephen Kiirya, said: “Let Dr Nakendo tell you about the allegations.  The accused health workers failed to manage themselves in terms of duty roasters.” 

The Busoga South Regional Police Spokesperson, Ms Diana Nandawula, said they detained some health workers on the orders of the IGG and State House Health Monitoring Unit who have sent their staff to investigate these claims.

 “The officials were following some medical workers in the district over lack of medical qualifications and theft of drugs. We have been directed to arrest the medical superintendent but the matter is being handled by IGG,” Ms Nandawula said.

Mr Martin Mabandha, the chief administrative officer (CAO) of Bugiri defended Dr Nakendo, alleging that his troubles were precipitated by those seeking his job. “It’s true we visited Dr Nakendo’s clinic and we found a small packet of condoms for the government of Uganda. But there are some people who need his job as medical superintendent.”

He said that there are people who communicated to Kampala that there is a problem in Bugiri  hospital.

But when this reporter asked the CAO to explain more about the allegations of theft and extortion against Dr Nakendo, he switched off his phone.

The Busoga North Regional Police Spokesperson, Mr Micheal Kasadha, said they recently conducted a joint-operation with health officials over theft of drugs in the area.

“We have had a number of operations to curb drug theft. We have those stealing government drugs from hospitals to their private clinics and we have exhibited such drugs,” Mr Kasadha said.

For instance, earlier this year, police arrested the officer in-charge of Kasolwe Health Centre II in Kagumba Sub-county, Kamuli District and a security guard over theft of drugs.

The health officials at the facility reported that some people broke into the facility and took the drugs.

Police filed charges of theft and burglary against the suspects.

The Kiira Regional Police Spokesperson, Mr James Mubi, said an operation targeting drug outlets selling stolen government drugs, expired drugs, and using unqualified personnel was conducted in September this year in Busoga.

He said a total of 166 illegal drug outlets were closed by officials from National Drug Authority (NDA) and drugs worth millions of shillings were confiscated.

The Executive Director of Anti-Corruption Coalition Uganda (ACCU), Mr Marlon Agaba, told Daily Monitor  yesterday: “Of course we know there are syndicates, there could be connivance with some of the investigating agencies or even security agencies that facilitate this kind of work to go on especially where it involves crossing the border and into neighbouring countries”.

 Mr Agaba said they work with whistle-blowers across the grassroots. 

“We have monitors in the village. The monitor goes and monitors health centres and makes a report. Then time comes when they have to use the same services and they have to be served by the same people they reported and we receive scenarios where they are scared, they have been chased away and castigated for their reports,” he added.

The National Medical Stores (NMS) whose mandate is to procure, store and distribute medicines recently digitised its drug delivery system.
However, Mr Agaba said the process has not been completely digitised and there are loopholes that are exploited by cartels. 

“You may have digitisation at the centre managing the warehouses [...] but you are not seeing digitisation at the health facilities. They are using paper to [track] the distribution of drugs,” he said.

The 2021 Inspector General of Government (IGG) report indicates that the theft of medicines and equipment is the commonest form of corruption in the healthcare sector. The IGG says that as a result of theft of government drugs, this places patients’ lives in harm’s way.

“…patients are frequently forced to purchase medicines on the black market despite the fact that they are entitled to receive them free of charge. This can potentially lead to negative health outcomes as patients may buy substandard or falsified medicines or may not be able to afford to access medicines at all,”  part of the  2021 report read.

The NDA recently revealed that Busoga Sub-region has the highest level of drug hawking and sale of counterfeit drugs in makeshift markets.

The NDA spokesperson, Mr Abiaz Rwamwiri, said the problem is prevalent. “The raid we had in Kitgum where we got drugs and equipment worth Shs2 billion. A hospital worker working in stores [was the culprit]. The people from Kitgum District have been putting pressure on the National Drug Authority and the Judiciary to release their son,”he said.