Drug theft: Museveni to deploy church leaders to supervise health centers

President Yoweri Museveni has announced plans to enlist heads of religious institutions to support ongoing efforts to curb drug theft in government health facilities

Speaking at a campaign rally in Alebtong District on Thursday, Museveni revealed that he was considering deploying the clergy for direct supervision of the facilities.

He noted that while the health sector in general was doing much better, drug theft remained a major hindrance to health service.

“In the Health Sector, our immunization aspect is doing very well. The only challenge is that some people are stealing drugs from government health facilities,” he said.

“But the Ministry of Health is using computers to track the drugs. These Health Center IIIs are not too many; they are about 2000 in Uganda. So in the future, I might have to come to the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda (IRCU) to lend me one supervisor per health center.”

He added, “These people of God, whom I believe want to go to heaven, can help us stop this theft of government drugs”

The Scale of the Problem and Digital Solutions

Drug theft in Uganda is a perennial issue, frequently leading to crippling shortages of essential medicines in public clinics and costing taxpayers billions of shillings, sometimes even resulting in loss of life. 

Reports indicate that unscrupulous healthcare workers divert free medicines, often to be resold in private pharmacies.