Parliament approves amendment of NMS, NDA acts

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT |  Parliament has approved the amendment of the National Medical Stores-NMS and National Drug Authority-NDA acts. 

This follows Parliament’s adoption of the Public Accounts Committee- PAC Central Government report on the findings of the Auditor-General on the Health Sector for the financial years 2016/2017 to 2019/2020. 

In the report presented by PAC Chairperson Nathan Nandala Mafabi, the laws establishing the two entities should be amended to ensure that NDA effectively performs its supervision role over NMS. 

Nandala observes that the General Manager of NMS is a board member of NDA and likewise, the Chairperson of the NDA Board is a board member of NMS.  

He added that the General Manager of NMS is Chairperson – Finance Committee of NDA while the NDA Board chair is a Chairperson of Finance Committee in NMS. PAC also reports that there was no management Committee as per NMS Act.

The Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga said that this matter reported by PAC is important.

David Bahati, the Minister of State for Planning said that the Ministry of Health will be able to respond to issues raised in the subsequent Treasury Memorandum. 

A Treasury Memorandum means an action report by the Minister or government detailing actions taken on recommendations of parliament arising from a report.

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