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Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | National Drug Authority-NDA has closed 138 drug outlets during an enforcement operation conducted in parts of Eastern Uganda over the last one week.
The operation which started on Monday, June 10 is ending today, in the districts of Bugiri, Buikwe, Bugweri, Buyende, Iganga, Jinja, Kaliro, Kamuli, Kayunga, Luuka, Mayuge, Mukono, Namayingo and Namutumba. It is intended to save the public from unlicensed and unqualified personnel handling human and veterinary medicines, crack down on dealers in substandard, and counterfeit medicines, and hawkers of drugs.
Across the 14 districts, National Drug Authority inspected of 261 drug outlets, 13 vet drug shops and 10 pharmacies, and found issues with 138 of them. Some were trading in expired drugs, others were involved in relabeling packages, while some other outlets had been left in the hands of unqualified personnel.
According to NDA, a number of drug outlets are operating in unsuitable premises which compromise the quality of medicines. A few others were found conducting clinical work. The operation also covered unlicensed drug outlets at the landing sites of Bwondha, Kisenyi, Galilaaya and Kawongo that had evaded NDA law enforcers for some time.
A total of 270 boxes of assorted medicine estimated at 95 million Shillings were impounded. They included 600 freshly supplied units of grip water that were about to expire in Ntuuyo Drug Shop, Iganga town. The law enforcers also arrested for people during the operation. The arrested individuals include · Malinga and Ssekimpi Hajadu held at Namutumba Police Station, Mwanyi Martin from Nansololo Trading Centre held at Kamuli Police Station and Nabirye Aidah of Kamuli, detained at Jinja Central Police Station.
A statement released by the National Drug Authority this morning estimates that by closing the outlets, lives of more than 200,000 people have been saved from the quacks or unqualified healthy personnel operating unlicensed drug shops.
National Drug Authority states that medicines in the hands of unqualified persons and stored in unsuitable conditions expose the population in the region and the entire country to wrong prescription, drug resistance, and other health-related risks or complications including death.
“The risk averted by closing 138 outlets reduces the disease burden of the unsuspecting population from being conned by quacks or unqualified health personnel,” the statement reads.
This week’s outcome cumulatively brings it to a total of 1,206 drug outlets visited since the beginning of the NDA operations in March 2019, leading to the closure of 592, impounding 1,034 boxes of assorted medicines, and 38 arrests.
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