Hon. Tom Bright Amooti, the Member of Parliament for Kyaka County, has called for greater involvement of local leaders in monitoring drug deliveries to health facilities, warning that a lack of transparency is enabling widespread theft of life-saving medicines.
Speaking about the growing challenge of drug pilferage in Uganda’s public health sector, Amooti stressed that communities cannot protect medicines if they are kept in the dark about what has been supplied.
“First of all, you cannot protect what you don’t know,” Amooti said. “It is my humble appeal that when the drugs have been supplied in these health centres, the local leaders should be involved and get to know what has been supplied. This will help our people to know what is in the house. You know if they say you are on guard and you don’t know what you’re guarding, it becomes a problem.”
He pointed to a recent case in his district where medicines were stolen from Migongwe Health Centre II in Kyegegwa. “It was done by the Askari who knew what was inside,” Amooti revealed, highlighting the role insider knowledge can play in facilitating theft.
Drug pilferage remains a serious problem in Uganda. Commonly stolen items include anti-malarials such as Coartem, HIV medicines, antibiotics, and even blood supplies.
Authorities have taken steps to combat the vice, including embossing government drugs with the “UG” mark and “Not for Sale” labels, digital tracking of deliveries, and public awareness campaigns.
However, Amooti said more must be done to ensure communities themselves are active watchdogs.“The moment local leaders know exactly what is delivered to a health facility, they can help protect it. If the people are in the know, it becomes harder for thieves to operate unnoticed,” he said.
Amooti urged the Ministry of Health and Resident District Commissioners (RDCs) to ensure drug delivery records accessible to LC officials and health unit management committees, saying this transparency would strengthen community vigilance.“We are losing medicines bought with taxpayers’ money,” he warned. “This is not just theft—it is the denial of treatment to the very people these drugs are meant to save.”
