OPTIMISM AS MINISTER ACENG INAUGURATES NEW BOARD AT NMS

By John V Sserwaniko

Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng this Tuesday morning inaugurated new board members for National Medical Stores (NMS). The event took place at Imperial Royale Hotel where Aceng also flagged off 7 brand new pickup trucks which the NMS procured to support its customer care support services in the districts and regions where they have liaison offices. Meant to increase the mobility and efficiency of the NMS customer care officers operating at 9 regional locations (Moroto, Gulu, Mbale, Gulu, Arua, Hoima, Fort Portal, Kampala & Mbarara), each of the 7 trucks cost the NMS Shs120m. Aceng commended the NMS management for its prudent spending behavior that enabled them save some money and buy these pickup trucks without obtaining any additional funding from government. The customer care officers are charged with ensuring the health facilities order for and receive the right medicine quantities at the right time. They also pick feedback messages from the field and expeditiously pass it on to the headquarters for remedial action. Aceng urged the new Board Chairman the much experienced Dr. Jotham Musinguzi to ensure innovations of this nature are strengthened at NMS during his tenure.

VERY OPTIMISTIC;

Aceng said she was optimistic that the new Board, that was appointed following wide consultations, including the entire cabinet making input, will turn NMS into a better and more responsive organization. She expressed optimism the new Board members will make adequate use of the numerous ICT-enabled NMS platforms to enhance service delivery. Speaking earlier, NMS General Manager Moses Kamabare had informed Board members of the very transparent IT platform through which Board members, MPs, the Ministry of Health top management team and other stakeholders are enabled to access timely information regarding which medicines and quantities have left the Entebbe warehouse for which destination. This enables everybody to participate in monitoring and thereby enhancing accountability and transparency in procurement, storage and delivery or distribution of the medicines across the country. Aceng praised the NMS management for operating very transparently. MPs today no longer make ill-informed protestations regarding the NMS service delivery because they are regularly kept in the know via their mobile phones and I-pads. On delivering the medicines, the NMS teams take photos of the health facilities’ officials receiving and storing the medicines. This is followed up with weekly newspaper updates highlighting medicine deliveries. Aceng said she was optimistic Dr. Jotham Musinguzi will use his vast experience to ensure his other 14 Board members quickly adapt to the NMS ICT-enabled way of doing things. The Board has 16 members when the GM Kamabare, who is an ex-officio, is added. In his brief acceptance speech, Dr. Musinguzi said even when they are men and women of great experience, they wouldn’t pretend to know everything. “We are here to learn and we look forward to learn much more during the induction training [slated to last 4 days starting from 12^th September],” said Musinguzi who Aceng implored to use his renowned stellar performance at the Population Secretariat to ensure the already well-performing NMS scales even greater heights. Aceng, who the day’s MC Dan Kimosho described as NMS’s supporter No. 1, proposed that Dr. Musinguzi prioritizes helping management to find a solution to medicines expiring unused in the health facilities largely because there is always a mismatch between the anticipated disease burden in a given area and what actually happens. “Some facilities will order for a lot of anti-malarials anticipating a big malaria disease burden and instead the malaria burden goes down. The medicines then expire unused and this gives NMS a bad image yet they aren’t to blame. We shall be looking forward to see how you help us find a solution to that problem,” said Aceng who also corroborated Kamabare’s point urging the new Board to bring in strategic thinking on how NMS and other stakeholders can sensitize the public to adopt prevention approaches. Like Kamabare before her, Aceng said 75% of the disease conditions, on which we expend our medicines, are preventable. “When our medicine is spent treating diarrhea, malaria and the like, I feel bad because such conditions are preventable. If one sleeps in the mosquito net, drinks clean water, wears his helmet, uses his seat belt or effectively uses family planning, we can prevent 75% of the disease burden. We want to invest more in managing the demand side for the medicines and that way we shall save on the scarce resources that go into procuring these medicines. The new Board should help us prioritize sensitization of the public to deepen the prevention message,” Kamabare said in his short speech as Aceng nodded in approval. Kamabare was also hopeful the new Board will support them to consolidate already existing synergies with key stakeholders like Ministries of health, finance and local government as well as Parliament and leaders in the local governments. Kamabare is expected to share much more with his new bosses during their 4 day induction retreat in Entebbe early next month. Aceng told Dr. Musinguzi that a lot is expected from his team because it was carefully chosen to ensure all stakeholder groups, representative of the broader public interest, are represented. Members were drawn from academia, legal fraternity, public and private sectors. “Make sure you are a winning team because if you fail, I will disown you. It’s the same way I enjoy football. When you ask me between Arsenal and Man-U what’s your team, I won’t tell you. I will wait until the match is over and see the team which wins. I will then say that is my team. The one which has just won. I say that’s my team and it’s actually the best way to enjoy football without being stressed,” Aceng humorously told a cheerful audience. The new Board members include Dr. Christine Ondoa, Dr. Medard Bitekyerezo, Dr. Sam Orochi Orach, Dr. Hanifah Namala Sengendo, Justinian Niwagaba, Beatrice Lagada Amongi, Emmanuel Osuna, Laban Mbulamuko, Dr. Richard Mugahi and Dr. Shaban Abdullah. Others are Kenneth Paul Omoding, Naomi Kibaaju, Kate Nalukenge Kikule and Dr. Timothy Musila. For comments, call, text or whatsapp us on 0703164755.