MPs on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) have expressed concern over the storage practices of both expired and active drugs in the same store at Entebbe Regional Referral Hospital.
This follows issues of potential dangers of cross-contamination and the inadvertent dispensing of expired medications to Ugandan citizens, highlighted by the Auditor General, John Muwanga.
While scrutinizing the December 2023 Auditor General’s report on May 29, 2024, Gorreth Namugga, Vice Chairperson of PAC, criticized the hospital’s failure to separate expired drugs from active ones, suggesting that the facility’s name be changed to better reflect its current practices.
“You are here to save a life, to treat people; just imagine if somebody goes to the hospital and is given an expired drug. That is what the Auditor General said—that you risk serving these expired drugs to patients. So you are here to save a life, but you are still poisoning it. You save and poison. Should we call you Entebbe Regional Poisoning Hospital? Because that is where we are headed,” Namugga said.
According to Namugga, the Auditor General’s report outlined standard practices, including the designation of a separate area within the storeroom for damaged and expired goods, clearly labelled and recorded in a register.
She further wondered if Entebbe Hospital was prematurely elevated to regional referral hospital status, given the low staffing levels and the failure of the facility to achieve the 450 bed capacity expected of a regional referral hospital.
However, Susan Amero, Amuria District Woman Representative, speculated that the expired drugs might be kept for accountability purposes or even smuggled for personal gain.
In response, Ismail Kizito Musoke, a pharmacist at Entebbe Regional Referral Hospital, acknowledged the challenges posed by the hospital’s small main store compared to the volume of medicine received.
He explained that while they isolate items about to expire from the main store during monthly stock counts, they lack a separate room for storage.
In the December 2023 report, it was revealed that although the hospital had expired drugs, they weren’t recorded and had not been separated from the rest of the drugs, contrary to Section 8.2 of the Environmental and Social Management System (ESMS), which provides that expired items or drugs should not be part of the stock but should be removed and put out in the designated area, and as a general rule, any item expiring in three months’ time is short dated.
