Heads of Religious institutions under their umbrella body, the Inter- Religious Council- Uganda (IRC-U) have hailed National Medical Stores (NMS) for innovations in the distribution of medicines during their visit to the NMS headquarters and warehouse in Kajjansi. NMS uses the Delivery Monitoring Tool, an online platform to alert stakeholders when medicine is dispatched from their warehouses in Kajjansi and Entebbe and delivered at heath facilities.
Speaking during a tour of the warehouse, Bishop Andrew Lugoloobi, the Secretary General of Born Again faith in Uganda, and a member of the IRCU Board, praised this innovation.
“The public needs to know about the delivery monitoring tool to ensure that there is accountability for the medicines received. I am very happy that NMS has taken strides to use technology to improve visibility and transparency in medicine deliveries.”
The delivery tool was introduced 5 years ago to allow all Ugandans to monitor medicines from dispatch to delivery at their health facilities across Uganda in real time via a publicly accessible domain. https://dmt.nms.go.ug/
On his part, Mr Moses Kamabare, the General Manager of NMS highlighted some of the other interventions NMS has put in place to combat the pilferage of medicines after they are delivered. For example, the embossment of medicines with “Government of Uganda, not for sale”, as an identifier of government medicines, digitization of all NMS processes through the NMS+ system that allows real-time ordering of medicines by health facilities, Last mile delivery of medicines to all health facilities and recently, the last mile delivery of vaccines.
“We’ve reduced operational costs from 35% to 7% of the total budget from the Government of Uganda, expanded our warehousing space with the state-of-the-art Kajjansi facility, and implemented tools like the Delivery Monitoring Tool (DMT) for transparency. But the biggest room we have is the room for improvement”, Mr Kamabare noted.
Mr. Kamabare also appealed to the religious leaders to preach the gospel of preventive health to their congregation, emphasizing that 75% of the diseases that affect Ugandans today are preventable and therefore people should embrace basic primary health care habits like washing hands, sanitation, exercise, and eating a healthy, balanced diet. This will contribute to overall health improvement in Uganda and reduce the gap in the need and availability of essential medicines.
In the remarks delivered by the co -co-president IRCU, Archbishop Jeronymos Muzeeyi of the Uganda Orthodox church, the Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, the Rt. Rev Dr Stephen Samuel Kizimba Mugalu hailed NMS for the tremendous work done in ensuring medicines reach the Ugandans who need them most.
The Inter-Religious Council of Uganda (IRCU) and the National Medical Stores (NMS) also explored transformative ways to collaborate on improving public health service delivery and ensuring equitable access to medicines across Uganda.
“Health is central to our collective well-being. By leveraging the grassroots reach of faith institutions, we can bridge gaps in health literacy, counter misinformation, and ensure medicines reach the most vulnerable. This partnership is an opportunity to serve.” Stated the Archbishop.
He also highlighted the readiness of IRCU to partner with NMS through a Memorandum of Understanding. “We are ready to partner with NMS on joint campaigns that promote medicine safety, vaccine uptake, and responsible use of medical resources.”.
NMS continues to champion innovation through technology to improve service delivery in the health sector, as well as ensuring that essential medicines reach all Ugandans who need them.
