The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The National Drug Authority (NDA) has warned the public to exercise caution while procuring HIV test kits after their investigation found some pharmacies in downtown Kampala selling expired diagnostics.
Speaking to URN in an interview, Abiaz Rwamwiri, NDA’s Public Relations Officer, said they stormed several shops along Wilson Street in Kampala over the weekend, where they arrested ten suspects who were, among other things, found in possession of boxes of HIV drugs and test kits whose expiry dates had been altered to extend their shelf life.
The surveillance and enforcement team also found several boxes of anti-malarial drugs labeled “Government of Uganda, not for sale.” This operation in Kampala city center comes just days after a similar operation was conducted in Eastern Uganda, where HIV drugs, anti-malarials, and test kits were found to be sold in open shift-markets in Bukhaweka and Butilu in Namisindwa district, as well as Arapai in Soroti city.
Experts worry that such lawlessness is causing people to acquire HIV unnecessarily when they base decisions about their lives on incorrect test results.
Meanwhile, at the beginning of this month, the NDA donated some of the government drugs confiscated in their operations to hospitals in need, with the green light from the Makindye Utilities Court. The drugs were donated to government-run health facilities in six districts—Luweero, Kayunga, Buikwe, Buvuma, Mukono, and Nakasongola—that are constantly suffering from stockouts of anti-retroviral drugs.
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