NMS, cancer boss trade bitter exchanges over drugs

As the breakdown of radiotherapy services in Uganda continues to bite cancer patients, a new row over drugs has engulfed National Medical Stores (NMS) and Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI), leaving two chiefs of the institution in bitter exchanges.

The UCI director, Dr. Jackson Orem accuses NMS of not only inflating prices of drugs to treat cancer patients but also failure to deliver full packages of the necessary drugs. On the other hand, Moses Kamabare, the managing director of NMS says Orem's accusations are coached in "wild allegations" attributing flaws in drug supply to a "systems error".

"NMS does not procure Cancer Medicines at inflated Prices as alleged. The only incident of high Prices was in the FY 2014/2015. This was as a result of a System error of the Supplier.

"This was detected by NMS, rectified and Uganda Cancer Institute informed and its Account Credited. There was no loss of funds on the part of Uganda Cancer Institute or NMS to the Supplier," Kamabare said.

In correspondences to NMS, Orem complained about over pricing of cancer drugs, a trend that he said directly affected the treatment of cancer patients, causing death.

However, in a statement issued by NMS, Kamabare argues that Orem's claims are rooted in a protracted fight meant to frustrate NMS's procurement of cancer medicines.

"It is on record that Uganda Cancer Institute Management has since recentralization of funds to NMS, fought against NMS procuring the Cancer Medicines, and has therefore used every available opportunity to frustrate NMS," he said.

Government tabled the Uganda Cancer Institute Bill, which seeks to create an autonomous agency of government mandated to undertake and coordinate the prevention of cancer in the country, including giving the cancer institute mandate to procure drugs without necessarily relying on NMS.

Kamabare said NMS delivers drugs on time despite "poor adherence to Procurement Plans by Uganda Cancer Institute Management."

"Any delays are exceptions, and mainly due to the non-co-operation by the Management of Uganda Cancer Institute Management," he said, alleging that UCI is the only government facility yet to submit a procurement plan for the next financial year, starting May 2016.

But Orem told New Vision that procurement plans are submitted on time, throwing the delay in the drug supply chain on NMS.

"If there is any agency, which is up to date, regarding the submission of drug procurement plans, then it is UCI. We are always under pressure and there is no way we can delay to submit drug procurement plans. NMS is just trying to find a way of escaping from their blatant incompetency," he said.

Orem added: "What we know is that NMS doesn't have the capacity to fulfill our demands. They are always going to third parties to carry our procurement of drugs, which is causing the delays."

A study conducted in 2015, found out that apart from limited access to drugs, the UCI faces problems of limited manpower and outdated equipment.

Titled, Cancer on the rampage: What are the challenges facing UCI," the study conducted by the Ministry of Finance,  noted that the doctor-patient ration is at one to 100 patients, while one nurse handles 50 patients.

UCI handles over 2, 000 patients every year, including some from neighboring countries such as South Sudan, Burundi, Kenya and Democratic Republic of Congo.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), there will be 13.2 million cancer-related deaths every year, by 2030.