All is not lost for this country after all. From the long-awaited reshuffle of Uganda Police Force’s top hierarchy to the government endorsing supplementary funding to a health-related agency that is not even housed at State House, there is some glimmer of hope that good still exists. National Medical Stores stands to gain additional funding for purchase of essential medical supplies.
The parliamentary budget committee has started scrutinising a UGX41 billion additional funding request for the National Medical Stores (NMS).
The drugs agency is seeking to meet a funding deficit for purchase of essential medicines and health supplies.
The UGX41 billion is part of the UGX451.2 billion supplementary budget for Financial Year 2017/18. The supplementary budget is pending parliamentary approval.
State Minister for Finance David Bahati told the committee that out of the UGX451.2 billion supplementary budget, UGX392.2 billion would be provided by the government through re-allocations and domestic market borrowing.
He said that UGX10 billion would be acquired through budgetary re-allocations, UGX27.6 billion external financing and UGX21.4 billion from appropriation in Aid (AIA).
According to the Ministry of Finance, the UGX41 billion deficit for NMS arose from the depreciation of the Shilling, which the ministry says affected the amount of essential medicines and health supplies that can be procured. With no corresponding increase in the budget for NMS, it necessitated a supplementary expenditure to meet the shortfall
In January, as part of its proposals to Parliament, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) implored the government to commit more funds towards NM to avoid drug stockouts in public health facilities.
According to a statement, the CSOs under their umbrella, the Civil Society Budget Advocacy Group (CSBAG), also asked the government to consider improved funding for the Uganda Blood transfusion services to ensure steady supply and collection of blood.
Presenting their position paper on the health sector, regarding the FY2018/19 National Budget to the parliamentary Committee on Health, the CSOs noted that the budget for pharmaceuticals and other supplies had been significantly cut from UGX 762 billion in FY 2017/18, to UGX515 billion in FY 2018/19.
“Although the NMS financing has increased to UGX278 billion in 2018/19, this cut will be detrimental to the efforts to eliminate drug stock outs,