Eight private Kampala hospitals named to handle Hepatitis B vaccine

▶ Nsambya Hospital

▶ Kibuli Hospital

▶ Mengo Hospital

▶ International Hospital Kampala(IHK)

▶ Norvik Hospital

▶ Case Hospital

▶ Nakasero Hosp

▶ Rubaga Hospital

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Ministry of Health has named eight Kampala private health facilities to provide the Hepatitis B vaccine as they put in place measures to halt supply of fake drugs on the market.

The hospitals are Nakasero, Rubaga, Case, Norvik, IHK, Mengo, Kibuli and Nsambya. Hepatitis B Vaccine is administered to healthy people to immunize them against Hepatitis B disease.

Ministry of Health has also instructed National Drug Authority (NDA) to recall the 10ml vial of Hepatitis B vaccine from Serum Institute of India from all private facilities (hospitals, clinics, pharmacies) and to test the falsified products to establish the contents of the vaccine.

There are a number of registered brands for Hepatitis B Vaccine for supply to Uganda from various manufacturers worldwide but the brand that has been falsified is from Serum Institute of India.

The measures follows the discovery NDA of falsified Hepatitis B vaccines from eight health facilities in Mbarara, Mbale, Wakiso and Kampala districts during its routine post-marketing surveillance of

The facilities caught with false drugs are Mbarara Community Hospital, Divine mercy, Mayanja Memorial, Family Doctors clinic Ntungamo, Mbarara City clinic, UMC Hospital Bukoto, Malcolm Health care Kisaasi, and Kampala Medical Chambers Buganda Road.

“The general public is encouraged to receive Hepatitis B vaccination from only the accredited private facilities and Government Health Facilities as investigations into the matter take course. We shall advise the public on other facilities that have been cleared for Hepatitis B vaccination in two weeks,” State Minister for Health Sarah Opendi announced in a press briefing on Sunday.

She said the population living outside Kampala will receive their vaccination from government health facilities.

According to the Uganda Population-based HIV Impact Assessment Survey (UPHIA), the prevalence of Hepatitis B infection among adults in Uganda stands at 4.3% (5.6% among men and 3.1% among women).

Hepatitis B prevalence was highest in Northern region with 4.6% in mid North, 4.4% in North East and 3.8% in West Nile. Hepatitis B infection was lower in the rest of the country with a range of 0.8% in South West region to 2.7% in East Central region.

The Ministry of Health started the vaccination of adolescents and adults against Hepatitis B virus disease in 2015. This vaccination program was officially launched by President Yoweri Museveni on July 25, 2015 in Ngora District.

“We started vaccination of adolescents and adults against Hepatitis B in 2015.This exercise is ongoing in a phased manner starting with most prevalent areas,” Opendi said.

The testing and vaccination plan was divided into four phases, in order of prevalence, to be implemented over a period of four years. We have so far covered 39 districtsin West Nile, Acholi, Lango, Karamoja and Teso Sub Regions. The vaccination exercise is now ongoing in Busoga region and will cover Bukedi and Bugisu sub regions.

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