KEEPING UGANDA IN GOOD HEALTH

National Medical Stores (NMS) is the parastatal organisation fulfilling the critical mandate of distribution, storage, and procurement on behalf of Uganda’s public healthcare facilities

The provision of critical health care simply is not possible without a robust and reliable supply network. Simultaneously, without the correct storage and access, medicines and supplies can soon become redundant.

In the ‘Pearl of Africa’, public healthcare providers are the true backbone of the sector, responsible for supplying the majority of Uganda’s health coverage. With the country operating a de-centralised health system, National Medical Stores (NMS) exists as a semiautonomous parastatal institution at national level.

As a government organisation,

NMS is the public agency charged with the distribution, storage, and procurement of medicine and medical equipment to all public healthcare facilities across Uganda. Headquartered in Entebbe, NMS take pride in executing its ambitious mandate concerning the handling and dissemination of human medication and healthrelated consumable items to government-owned health units across Uganda. The company’s inception was incorporated into Ugandan legislature in 1993 with the organisation presided over by a Board of Directors.

Leading with the mantra, ‘Passionate About Your Life’, NMS is driven by a prevailing concern for caring for the communities in which it serves.

A NATIONAL FOOTPRINT

In order to best meet the needs of the many national districts that it serves, NMS operates from a network of ten separate regional offices.

NMS’s logistical prowess finds its nexus at the company’s sole central warehouse, which is complimented by an extensive fleet of vehicles catering to distribution. This enables the company to also fulfil warehousing and distribution services for other NGO’s and government organisations. Indeed, since its nascency, NMS’ mandate has expanded to serving

100 percent of Uganda’s government health facilities, spanning the police, army, and prisons.

The company is equipped with a significant stock of medicines designed to equip all government hospitals and health centres on a routine basis, with product embossment in place to ensure that supplies are not liable to misuse on the open market.

Operating based on a centralised procurement system, NMS work with local partners and international vendors channelled through local distributors. By making use of a selection of local manufacturers, NMS work to ensure a reliable supply chain based on Ugandan soil.

Reflective of the company’s strong relationship with the Ugandan Ministry of Health (MoH), NMS joined with the MoH and other key stakeholders to introduce a pioneering ‘Basic Kit’

- a basic supply of medicines that is distributed to all health centres across the country. The components of the kit are revised annually in alignment with the current local health situation,

“OUR VISION IS OF A POPULATION WITH ADEQUATE AND ACCESSIBLE QUALITY MEDICINES

AND MEDICAL SUPPLIES”

– NATIONAL MEDICAL STORES