The Minister of Health, Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng Ocero on has received yet another honor in recognition for dedication in championing the Public health.
Aceng received the African Public Health Champion of the Years 2024 Award, from the African Leadership Organisation in a ceremony held at Marriot Hotel in Casablanca city, Morocco on Saturday 22nd .Feb. 2025. The colorful ceremony attracted several African head of states including Andry Rajoelina among others.
In her maiden speech shortly after receiving the award, minister Aceng attributed the honor to Uganda’s unwavering dedication to public health.
“This award is symbolizes Uganda’s unwavering dedication to public health,” She noted, thanking the African Leadership Organization for the recognition and for their commitment to celebrating leadership that transforms lives across our continent.
She applauded the president for his strong leadership and strengthening the partnership “We are able to do this because of the strong leadership of our President; H.E Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, the strong partnerships and unwavering dedication of our health workers”.
Dr. Aceng who is also the Woman MP of Lira City dedicated the award to Uganda’s frontline health workers, the community health workers and the strong team in the ministry of health who she said work tirelessly to safeguard public health.
She assures Uganda’s commitment to continue strengthening primary and tertiary health care beyond the outbreak response.
“I also dedicate this award to my family, the people of Lira City and the over
45.9 million Supportive Ugandans,” health Minister.
In July 2024, Dr. Aceng received in international award for her effort and exemplary leadership during the fight against the corona virus pandemic. This was in a conference organized by Livelihood Development initiatives international Canada in Toronto, Canada.
Sports Minister Hon. Peter Ogwang has added his voice onto that of Gen Kahinda Otim Otafiire and castigated Betty Amongi for abandoning her Oyam South MP Seat to come to Lira City to antagonise high-performing Jane Ruth Aceng Ocero. She has been MP there for just four years, compared to the 25 years Amongi has spent doing nothing while pretending to be representing the people of Oyam!
Speaking over the weekend to thousands of boda boda riders at Lira Training College grounds, where a large crowd gathered to witness and cheer Aceng getting installed at the new patron for LUMBA which unites boda riders in Lango, Ogwang wondered why Amongi who has done so little as Oyam MP for the last 25 years would all of a sudden come up wanting to antagonise Aceng, who has done so much for Lira City in just 4 years.
Aceng’s achievements, and effective lobbying which has seen hundreds of billions come to Lira City in public infrastructure projects, had been referenced by earlier speakers before Ogwang.
As Sports Minister, Ogwang revealed secrets from State House meetings where hs sat and saw Aceng mount relentless pressure, to which the education minister Janet Museveni responded by cajoling her husband, the president, to prioritize the construction of Akibua stadium which had been a long standing campaign promise of his.
The Akibua stadium, which is coming with tarmacking of several roads and erection of several recreation and training facilities at Lira University, is a 505bn investment, which Ogwang attributed on effective lobbying by leaders like Aceng who was relentless in reminding the president about the sporting facility. Ogwang said that all these achievements, coupled with her anti-coronavirus leadership, explain why Aceng deserves reelection as Woman MP Lira City come 2026.
He said that even God would never forgive the people of Lango if Aceng isn’t reelected with a landslide. That because of her effective leadership during the Coronavirus pandemic, the whole country took note of Aceng’s capabilities and they are very proud of her, noted Ogwang who the people of Lango have since christened Mr. Akibua to depict his role in getting the stadium construction project kick off this very month.
He then turned to fellow Minister Betty Amongi and wondered why anyone in their rightful state of mind would ever abandon their constituency to go and antagonise an effective representative of the people like Jane Aceng (of all people).
Hon. Peter Ogwang
“These are two people and both of them are on the dining table seated in the same dining room. How can you the people of Lango afford to lose the minister of health? What are we looking for? What’s our other sister looking for, if we are all already seated on the same dining table inside the same room? Why do you want to force our sister Dr. Jane Aceng out of the dining table? I thank God the people of Lango aren’t going to allow that to happen,” Ogwang said.
“We should ensure that you the people of Lango don’t lose any of these and then begin saying the NRM government doesn’t like you. Don’t go saying the NRM government hates us.”
Ogwang challenged the religious and cultural leaders from Lango sub region to rise to the occasion and prevail on Betty Among to back off the Lira City Woman MP Seat and keep in her lane namely Oyam South.
As the large crowd wildly cheered, Ogwang demanded that the clergy and cultural leaders of the sub region immediately stop opportunism and self-seeking by standing up to ensure that Betty Amongi comes back to her senses and stay in Oyam because with Aceng, Lira City already has the approperiate representation.
The long list of achievements the health minister Jane Ruth Aceng Ocero has delivered in just 4 years incrseases her 2026 reelection chances as Lira City Woman MP, but also more signifcantly makes her boss president Yoweri Museveni politically more entrenched in Lango sub region than ever before.
In just 4 years, Aceng’s lobbying as Lira City Woman MP has seen close to 1trn trickle to Lango sub region and in the process directly impacting lives of people like never before-people have got jobs and business opportunities to supply materials.
The hundreds of billions have come to the sub region through the public infrastructure projects which the president has unleashed on the sub region at the instigation of his loyal cadres like Aceng.
Being an authentic born again Christian, Aceng has leveraged her closeness to the First Lady Janet Museveni to lobby key infrastructural interventions for her people of Lira City and Lango sub region in general.
LIRA RCC EGOOLE EXPLANS:
During a Saturday public function at Lira Town College grounds, where thousands of residents gathered to witness Aceng get installed as the new patron for a powerful riders association called LUMBA which unites Boda riders in the whole of Lango, Lira City RCC Lawrance Egoole enumerated to chief guest Gen Kahinda Otim Otafiire and other ministers the different projects that Museveni has accomplished for Lira City through Aceng.
These include the construction and equipment of the state of art medical laboratory at Lira Regional Referral Hospital which has cost 5.3bn. Others include the 4.9bn oxygen plant at the same Lira RRH; the ambulance dispatch call center at the same RRH at 1.9bn; another laboratory at the RRH costing 1.8bn; the regional incinerator plant at Lira RRH at Alere costing 3.4bn and a total of 11 health centers which have either been newly constructed or upgraded from HC2 to HC3. These combined have cost billions of shillings.
Hon. Jane Ruth Aceng
Egoole also reported about several kilometers of roads which have been tarmacked in Lira City under the USMID intervention and credited all that to Aceng. He wondered why none of the previous MPs from Lira ever delivered all these things in the last 35 years preceding the coming onto the political scene of Aceng. He also thanked the UPDF Engineering Brigade for participating in some of the works especially on the health centers’ constuction.
Yet that isn’t that has been done and in the process sinking hundreds of billions into the sub region that is home to Uganda’s founding president Milton Obote. Egoole also spoke about 10bn which so far has been sunk into the villages and cells of Lango’s Capital City where it has directly impacted 10,000 households.
“All these are part of the NRM 2021 manifesto promises to this sub region and we thank God for Dr. Jane Aceng Ocero who has been so effective as our area Woman MP and has effectively followed up to ensure that all these things come through and that has been achieved in just 4 years,” RCC Egoole reported to Gen Otafiire who was the day’s chief guest.
He also made reference to the big one of all-namely the Akibua stadium whose construction has seen the GoU sink 505bn into the sub region. The construction commenced on 24th December and according to Sports minister Peter Ogwang, this is one hell of a project that is going to shut up the mouths of Museveni’s adversaries forever.
Ogwang spoke about this stadium project in greater details than any other speaker at the event making it clear that this amounts to food which will be ready to be served to the people of Lango in the next 20 months. He implored Lira City residents to thank their effective lobbyist Aceng, and no one else, for this grand infrastructural project which is going to change the sub region’s fortunes and outlook forever.
Ogwang explained that, at Aceng’s instigation, the Works ministry has been instructed by the president to ensure that 10kms of roads leading to the Akibua stadium are tarmacked. The same stadium project is coming with a state of art training pitch at Lira University and two accomodation facilities each with capacity to host 100 guests at a time.
Ogwang also challenged the private sector of Lira City, uniting under the Chamber of Commerce branch there, to do their role by putting up more recreation and hotel facilities ahead of AFCON 2027. Also to be tarmacked to complement on the stadium project is the Kolangai-Aboke-Bobi road, which has been awaited for decades.
Asserting that Akibua stadium is going to be in its own league, Ogwang motivated the cheering crowd even more when he stressed thus: “Forget about Namboole or even Hoima stadium because Akibua is going to be something this country hasn’t had before. It’s going to have the best infrastructure in this country’s stadia history.”
That the Akibua stadium project is coming with a 120 rooms hostel, a huge recreation park, an indoor games facility and a semi-olympic swimming pool which, according to Ogwang, will for years remain unrivalled “in the whole of Eastern and Northern Uganda.”
Besides changing the scenery of the sub region forever and raising its profile as a tourism attraction like never before, all these infrastructure projects are going to create job and business opportunities which the Langis ought to reciprocate by killing Gen Museveni with votes come 2026.
This is why we feel justified to conclude that overcoming Gen Museveni in that part of the country come 2026 is going to be harder for his opponents than has ever been the case before.
When his bid to become the substantive director general of health services (DG) failed in late 2017, fallen Ugandan public health scholar Prof Anthony K Mbonye imploded. He got so angry that he went to Court after the IGG blocked his bid after he was accused of trying to unduly influence the recruitment process.
And when all this didn’t yield, Prof Mbonye (who subsequently passed on in July 2021) got so frustrated and wrote a book in 2018.
In his 156 page book, Mbonye criticised and contradicted President Museveni for allegedly trivialising the health sector leadership by appointing people he described as too conflicted, alien, young and inexperienced for the task at hand.
Specifically, he criticised the President for making Dr. Asuman Lukwago the permanent secretary, Dr. Diana Atwine the pioneer director for State House Health Monitoring Unit, Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng the DG and Dr. Christine Ondoa the Minister of Health replacing Dr. Stephen Malinga in 2011.
Mbonye was also critical of the President and the MoH leadership for favoring and treating the leadership at the National Medical Stores (NMS) with kidsgrove.
In his book, in which he ranted and complained against many other things and people including then state Minister Sarah Opendi, Mbonye belligerently predicted total collapse of the health sector under the leadership of both Aceng and Atwine. For unknown reason, he seemed to have had a lot of contempt for these two blue-eyed girls of the President.
In his book, Mbonye (clearly bitter that they didn’t support his bid to become the Director General of Health Services after the President had elevated Aceng to the position of Minister in 2016) went as far as complaining about the two ladies’ decision to be Born Again Christians and their practice of always praying a lot both at home and the work place.
Hon. Jane Ruth Aceng
In the book chapters, which depict a Professor determined to keep whining about his personal grievances against a lot of people including childhood and high school buddies, Mbonye criticised the duo’s spiritual devotion as hypocrisy aimed at strengthening their relationship with Gen Museveni’s First Family epitomised by a deeply spiritual First Lady by the names of Janet Kataha Museveni.
PROVING HIM WRONG:
But today, roughly 8 years later, there are inescapable indicators that Prof Mbonye was wrong in criticising the President’s recruitment decisions at the MoH because much of the doom and the chaos he predicted hasn’t come to pass. And will never.
Instead, the two leaders namely Aceng and Atwine have demonstrated resilience and effective focused leadership clearly demonstrating how Mbonye’s skepticism was utopian, wild and misplaced. Aceng has been Minister for almost 8 years and Atwine PS for the same length of time. They haven’t humiliated nor embarrassed the Born Again faith and the First Family as Mbonye had predicted.
Under their leadership, the MoH (and Uganda as a country) has been able to circumvent several public health emergencies: the most glaring ones being COVID-19 (of 2020-2021), and more recently Ebola.
These were contained and the effectiveness with which the two ladies led the sector and coordinated Uganda’s highly successful response, to especially the COVID pandemic, has since won for our country the admiration and respect of the international community.
Consequently, many countries and multilateral organisations, like WHO and other UN agencies, have had to sponsor missions of scientists and public health managers from across the globe to come and benchmark on Uganda’s success story.
The beautiful outcomes Uganda derived from it’s COVID and Ebola response have caused our dear President, Gen YK Museveni, to win reputable awards of recognition as the world reflects on the effective leadership the ladies at the health ministry enabled him to render during that unprecedentably difficult period of COVID-19.
Being the sector Minister, Aceng has personally scooped several national and international accolades in recognition of the prudence, resolve and resilience with which she led the sector especially during COVID. She was composed, articulately outspoken in defense of Ugandans’ collective interest and never panicked even as COVID wrecked havoc, and in the process costing millions of lives, across the developed world.
Internet information on Wikipedia shows that, as a result, Dr. Aceng won more respect and admiration of fellow Ministers of Health across the continent and elsewhere in the developing world, some of whom have lately been urging her mentor the President of Uganda to consider fronting and sponsoring her to be elected for the Congo Brazzaville-based powerful office of WHO Africa Regional Director, which is currently vacant and is to be filled up this coming year 2025. It’s filled through elections by the very Ministers of Health from the 54 African countries under the auspices of AU.
Naturally, this level of legitimacy and acceptability among peers is something Prof Mbonye must not have envisaged in 2018 as he published his very belligerent publication. So controversial and inaccurate were several contents of the book that some of the people the fallen Professor belligerently wrote about ended up dragging him to civil Courts for defamation.
PROGRESS ELSEWHERE:
Yet beyond the impressive COVID and Ebola response record, there are several other irrefutable illustrations to show that the President didn’t goof that much in posting Atwine and Aceng at the Wandegeya-based Ministry.
This online news platform has reviewed several GoU and development partner literature and reports which clearly indicate that Uganda’s performance has improved on almost all key health services delivery indicators in the last 8 years of Aceng’s political leadership of the sector.
One of these is the Uganda Demographic & Health Survey (UDHS) report which is done annually. The UDHS illustrates the quality of health services citizens of a country recieve, their satisfaction levels, feedback and key intervention outcomes. The UDHS is conducted by UBOS in close collaboration with the MoH, GoU, UNICEF, UNHCR, UNFPA and World Bank.
A review of the UDHS reports for all these years, since Aceng became Minister of Health and Atwine the PS, clearly indicate how all the performance and outcomes indicators have been improving without retrogression for the last 8 years counting from 2016.
These indicators illustrate progress Uganda’s health sector has registered on key indicators like maternal mortality, infant & child mortality. Other greatly improved areas include citizens’ access to information on health care services, antenatal care, postnatal care, children’s immunisation, management of childhood diseases, nutritional status of mothers & children; citizens’ level of knowledge or awareness about HIV/AIDS and households’ access to affordable safe drinking water.
The Aceng/Atwine-led health sector has done equally well on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)-related indicators that are concerned with health services provision.
This is illustrated by the fact that Uganda today has fewer below 5 years children who are stunted (20% compared to 2015’s 31%); fewer children under the same age are malnourished, getting wasted or even overweight than was the case 8 years ago.
The other SDG-related indicators on which the Aceng/Atwine-led health sector has done exceptionally well include maternal mortality being demonstrably diminished.
Others relate to the fact that more mothers are choosing to deliver their babies under the care of skilled health personnel as opposed to relying on Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs).
The under 5 years mortality rates are significantly down too as is the case with neonatal mortality rates, available well corroborated literature shows.
On the reproductive health front, more women falling within the reproductive age (15-49 years) are desiring and having their access to safe family planning methods’ needs promptly met whenever required than was the case 8 years ago.
Larger numbers of children under 5 years are getting vaccinated promptly in compliance with all vaccination requirements as stipulated under the National Vaccination Programme of the country and WHO. This has greatly impacted the country’s life expectancy and quality of life for its citizens.
Yet that isn’t all. The last 8 years (counting from 2016) have seen more and more citizens becoming aware of and adapting hygienic practices like the effective washing of hands using both soap and water.
Courtesy of increased awareness and decentralisation of access, more Ugandan parents are embracing registration of their children’s births (before the 5th BD) with the mandated civil authorities like NIRA than was the case 8 years ago.
Available literature indicates that almost 50% of such births are currently getting registered in urban areas compared to 8 years ago (before 2016) when it stood at mere 32%.
It’s almost coming to a year since President Yoweri Museveni appointed new government officials after he was re-elected again as the president of Uganda in February last year.
As we finish the year of the 5-year NRM term, we take a look at who have been the top performing government officials.
Thomas Tayebwa
Hon. Thomas Tayebwa is the Government Chief and Member of Parliament (MP) for Ruhinda North County in Mitooma District. From government to constituency work, Hon. Thomas Tayebwa is always available to perform. He is also among the most active government official on social media and is always updating the public about ongoing government programs. On his constituency, he is always checking and supervising the ongoing projects. He is very instrumental in pushing the government’s development agenda wherever he is.
Hon. Thomas Tayebwa
Frank Tumwebaze
The Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries who also doubles as the MP for Kibale East County in Kamwenge district Hon. Frank Tumwebaze has always performed excellently at every office he is appointed to. He is very active in every activity and always shows accountability. He always shares with the public what is happening in the government and his constituency. Whether it is under his docket or not, he always updates the public through his social media platforms. Very hardworking government minister.
Hon. Frank Tumwebaze
Peter Ogwang
The Minister of State, Office of the President in charge of Economic Monitoring who also doubles as Ngariam County MP in Katakwi District is another well performing government official. He is always active and available whenever he is called upon. Hon. Ogwang is also a regular regarding his constituency work and is one of the most active MPs in Eastern Region.
Hon. Peter Ogwang
Jane Aceng
The Minister of Health has always worked her heart out regarding government services. She doubles as the Woman MP for Lira District. Jane has also been instrumental in the battle against COVID-19 pandemic in the country. Her district Lira has benefited in her tireless work regarding service delivery.
Hon. Jane Ruth Aceng
Robinah Nabbanja
Many doubted her when she was appointed the Prime Minister but she has defied all odds and performed excellently in less than a year in office. Kudos to the Kakumiro District Woman MP for your eagerness and willingness to work beyond expectations.
Rt Hon. Robinah Nabbanja
Kiryowa Kiwanuka
The Attorney General serves government with all his heart. He has been instrumental in battling cases where government is involved and came out successful. He also doesn’t hesitate to defend the government once it is attacked on social media. He is very active, informed and fast to respond on social media especially on Twitter. He knows what he is doing and why the president put trust in him.
AG; Kiryowa Kiwanuka
Diana Atwine
Together with her boss Hon. Jane Ruth Aceng, Diana Atwine has also been instrumental in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic. Diana is among the best performing Permanent Secretaries (PS) in the country.
Doing good work; Diana Atwine
Martin Mugarra Bahinduka
The Minister of State for Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities who also doubles as the MP for Ntoroko County has been very instrumental in promoting tourism. He has been on the ground sharing experience as a tourist and is always sharing information regarding Ugandan Tourism promotion on his social media platforms. He has recent become a very active social media user and is not just seated in office.
Martin Mugarra Bahinduka
Jim Muhwezi
Having bounced back to parliament, Maj Gen. (RTD) Jim Muhwezi was appointed Minister for National Security. Although there have been cases of insecurity regarding bomb blasts, the minister acted quickly and the situation has stabilized. With him also back to parliament, Rujumbura County in Rukungiri district is back to map. He has already been instrumental in a number of projects in his constituency. He surely is the right person to stabilize developmental projects in Rujumbura.
On Monday, early morning, unidentified people dumped an empty baby’s coffin in the precincts of Mulago Hospital.
The coffin was wrapped with placards calling for resignation of Diana Atwine, the Permanent Secretary of Health Ministry.
The act marked a new wave of attacks on PS Atwine and other health officials that have relentlessly taken to the vanguard to combat ‘monster’ Covid-19.
The message on the many placards covering the coffin alleged that Diana had failed to account for the funds allocated to the Ministry to deal with Coronavirus.
Whereas the Ministry condemned continued malicious attacks on its officials, it also invited security agencies to investigate groups and individuals engineering the malicious campaign with intent to defame particular persons in the organization.
Investigations
This website has learnt that two security agencies, Police and Internal Security Organization (ISO) have since taken up the matter.
“The Deputy IGP Maj. Gen. Paul Lokech has assigned a team of detectives to pursue the matter to logical conclusion. Police is badly looking for the throwers of that coffin. We want to know who they work for,” said an official in Police.
ISO has also received credible intelligence that this malicious outfit is now planning to paint a number of young pigs yellow colour, cover them with similar materials containing writings that defame the person of Diana.
“The group is planning to execute their mission before this week ends,” a separate source revealed.
The outfit behind the obnoxious actions, according to information gathered by ISO belongs to Forum for Democratic Change (FDC).
“They are operating from underground and are financed by top party leaders, Civil Society activists and opposition MPs,” our ISO source added.
The clique works very closely with a youthful FDC councilor of Makerere University who coordinates the operations and also sources finances.
Intelligence has it that this councilor liaises with revered opposition figure in the country.
“This opposition leader opts to remain underground.”
Police has also been informed that the attacks on Diana are a stepping stone as the groups plan massive showdown in Kampala, should President Yoweri Museveni extend the lockdown.
“The plan is to burn Ministry of Health cars, vandalize its properties in Kampala and assault officials,” said a source.
The group has consistently pushed a narrative that Ministry of Health officials especially Diana and Minister Ruth Aceng have been advising the President to extend the lockdown for their personal gain.
Shockingly, President Museveni revealed to the Covid-19 Task Force that he has also received a security brief of the said protests ahead of his national address slated for Saturday.
Confessions
This website understands that a couple of legislators who were hired by the negative forces to attack Diana and on numerous occasions during Committee appearances confessed to have received “something to wet their beaks” and “sharpen their voices.”
It must be noted that at the beginning of this month, while appearing before Parliamentary Covid-19 Taskforce, some MPs who feigned ignorance insisting that they didn’t know Diana neither heard her name, but would understand that she is mismanaging funds, have since apologized and admitted to being hired by a group fighting her.
The Civil Society Activist who are covertly financing the attacks against Diana, according to officials of the Ministry, have never bothered to seek any knowledge in relation to accountability.
“The Auditor General who is established by law has since released a report on the Ministry. How many of those against Diana have bothered to read the report?” asks an official in the Ministry.
Diana and the top administrators of Ministry of Health have presented accountability to Parliament that allocates money, Budget Committee and other government subcommittees and are all satisfied.
Discouraging acts
The head of the Ministry Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, has Tuesday expressed concerns over several attacks directed to Ps Atwine saying it is unacceptable and the malicious groups should stop threatening her officials.
“We condemn in the strongest terms possible the acts of attacking our permanent secretary and abusing the health workers. This is unacceptable. People should learn to give credit where its due. We are doing all we can to ensure that we end this pandemic and the country resumes its economy,” Hon Aceng said.
Aceng said that, however, such discouraging acts take us backwards. She said that the PS has presented accountability to many forums. “We no longer understand what type of accountability people are looking for. But if you want accountability it’s better to ask it rather than engage in such acts.”
The Vice President of the Republic of Uganda H.E Jessica Alupo has lauded National Medical Stores for strengthening the drug supply chain to improve health service delivery in Uganda.
While touring National Medical Stores Headquarters in Entebbethis Friday morning, Alupo acknowledged the gaps being exploited to steal drugs from health facilities, saying these will be addressed with the latest innovations put in place by National Medical Stores.
“The Ugandan population need medicines in government health units and sometimes they are disappointed when they hear stories of medicines getting stolen. I am happy to discover from here today that whereas NMS has sufficient volumes of medicines in their stores for all government facilities and delivers them to the respective health facilities as per their mandate, there is a grey area that we need to pay attention to as government so that all these health facilities benefit’’, said Alupo.
The National Medical Stores’ mandate is to procure, store and distribute medicines and medical supplies to government health facilities.
However, once NMS delivers medicines to the respective health facilities, in–charges of the respective government-owned health facilities are charged with the responsibility of ensuring that medicines are secured and administered to patients free of charge.
‘‘We have discovered that there is a gap from the time NMS delivers drugs to health facilities as our mandate dictates, and when the drugs are administered to patients. We would like to call upon all Ugandans to be vigilant and report any cases of drug thefts in their respective facilities. On our part as NMS, we are innovating new ways to address these gaps by introducinginnovations to improve visibility in the ordering and distribution of vaccines,” said Mr. Moses Kamabare, the National Medical Stores General Manager.
The Vice Presidentnoted that the introduction of the NMS+ERP tool, anew initiative of National Medical Stores with support from USAID, which is anonline monitoring tool aimed at improving transparency and accountability in the ordering of medicines, will go a long way in improving visibility in the ordering and tracking how medicines are delivered and dispensed to patients.
According to Kamabare, NMS plus will be rolled out in three phases: the first leg which is to digitalize the order system for hospitals, the second phase which will be connecting NMS to the stores of the respective health facilities, while the last leg will be to track who has received which kind of medicine.
‘‘The final phase is what accounts for what we have delivered to a health centre and connects it to the individual patient so that when you go to a health facility, you will only be able to get medicines after you have presented your National Identification Number and thumbprint. Even if you get on a bus and go to another health facility, and they prescribe for you the same drug, we will be able to know that you have already received this drug in another facility,” said Kamabare.
Alupo toured NMS at the invitation of the management of NMS, as part of the organization’s stakeholder engagement initiative to raise awareness among national and local leaders about the mandate of National Medical Stores. She also acknowledged the efforts by NMS to expand to a bigger warehouse in Kajjansi to accommodate storage of more volumes of medicines.
According to Kamabare, once complete, the Kajjansiwarehouse will have capacity to produce at least 100 oxygen cylinders per dayand is billed to be the largest government-owned medical warehouse in the East African region.
“I am happy to note that you are working on solving the problem of storage through a modern pharmaceutical warehouse in Kajjansi. I was also very excited to learn that you store Ebola vaccines for other countries in the region and that other countries come here to benchmark,”Alupo noted.
Alupo was accompanied by the State Minister in the Vice President’s office also the Buikwe Woman MP, Diana Mutasingwa.
On her part, Ms. Mutasingwa, expressed concern over what she said was a deliberate misinformation of the public by a section of politicians on the availabilityof Mama Kits, a free specialized medical kit for expectant mothers in public facilities.
“What we have been getting on ground is that Mama Kits are being sold. Because of propaganda, Ugandans are told that these mama kits are not delivered and yet NMS indeed delivers these Mama Kits. We must work together as leaders to inform the general publicto correct this misinformation’’, Ms. Mutasingwasaid.
Alupo was taken through the process of ordering, packaging and transportation of medicines to health facilities.
High ranking officials who previously visited the NMS facilities include President Museveni, Speaker Jacob Oulanya and Health Minister Dr Ruth Aceng and Members of Parliament others.
The Vice President’s visit is seen as a big step forward for government as it seeks to address rampant theft of medicines from public health facilities.
The Minister of Health, Dr Jane Ruth Aceng has on Wednesday handed over two refrigerated trucks to National Medical Stores (NMS) to safely transport vaccines across the country under the required conditions.
The two of the five refrigerated trucks were procured by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Uganda with support from GAVI to support vaccination in the country.
While handing over the trucks to NMS General Manager, Moses Kamabare, Dr Aceng said the vehicles were well equipped to ensure vaccines are kept at optimal temperatures while being delivered.
She also said 5 out of 10 refrigerated trucks available at NMS were due for disposal.
“Out of the 10 trucks currently available in National Medical stores, 5 refrigerated trucks are due for disposal. Our expectations are that the trucks will be deployed in supporting the immunization activities and other health related activities,” she said.
She added that the trucks will support NMS to build a resilient fleet to distribute and support Immunization activities across the country.
Kamabare said the trucks “are built to perfection, and we are glad that they have come out the way we agreed with the manufacturers.”
He said the arrival of trucks was timely.
“These trucks will help boost NMS at time when there is big demand for vaccines,” Kamabare emphasised.
NMS has built capacity to store vaccines that require both high and low temperatures.
On July 11, Kamabare said Uganda has the capacity to store Pfizer’s COVID-19 Vaccine which need to be kept at minus 70 degrees Celsius.
“We are already storing Ebola vaccines at – 80 degrees centigrade. Yes, we can store Pfizer which is kept at minus 70 degrees Celsius,” he added.
Meanwhile, UNICEF Representative to Uganda, Munir Safieldin said the remaining 3 trucks will arrive in Uganda in September.
“These are the initial delivery of two trucks. Three more trucks will be arriving hopefully by September,” he said.
The mandate of NMS is to procure, store and distribute essential medicines and health supplies mainly to public health facilities.
Kabalagala: With the increased risk and rise of non- communicable diseases, the health Minister Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng has officially launched Health and Fitness Group Uganda; a facility that utilises lab findings, relies on the latest technology, professional doctors and fitness professionals to provide fitness solutions and recommendations guided scientifically to enhance healthy living. The facility is located at South Point Mall, Kabalagala before Kings Gate Mall.
The group has acquired state of the art equipment (Styku) for a Wellness and Fitness Center; which through scanning will be able to provide instant analysis on;
– Body Fat Analysis
– Caloric Expenditure
– Body Shape Analysis
– Fat Loss Calculation
– Risk Analysis
– Risk Reduction
The above analysis will from a professional perspective guide on what needs to be done and how by an individual during their fitness and wellness journey.
A well-equipped Extreme Fitness school on the same premises will train and graduate instructors with skills and knowledge on wellness and fitness. These instructors through partnerships will work with various organizations and institutions directly with individuals through scheduled routines during their fitness and wellness programs.
Health and Fitness Group Uganda will among other services also provide;
– Dialysis Nutrition management
– Type 2 Diabetes management and Reversal
– Ketogenic and intermittent fasting plan
– Nutrition and Diet Counseling
– Cardiovascular disease Nutritional management
– Weight management
– Oncological Nutrition and diet planning
– Detox Planning and Management
– Micronutrient and macronutrient supplement
This facility is located at Kabalagala – South Point Mall, level 3. You are welcome to visit and experience life changing services at affordable rates.
“Glad to officially launch Health and Fitness Group Uganda at South Point Mall, Kabalagala. This facility utilises lab findings, relies on the latest technology, professional doctors and fitness pros to provide fitness solutions and recommendations guided to enhance healthy living,” Dr. Jane said.
