The Uganda National Medical Stores, commonly referred to as National Medical Stores (NMS), is a government-owned organisation in

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

, mandated to procure, store and distribute human medication and health-related consumable items to government-owned health units in all districts of

Location

The headquarters of the NMS is located at 4-12 Nsamizi Road, in

Entebbe Entebbe is a city in Central Uganda. Located on a Lake Victoria peninsula, approximately southwest of the Ugandan capital city, Kampala. Entebbe was once the seat of government for the Protectorate of Uganda prior to independence, in 1962. The c ...

, a city on the northern shores of

Lake Victoria Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. With a surface area of approximately , Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake by area, the world's largest tropical lake, and the world's second-largest fresh water lake by surface area after ...

, approximately , southwest of

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,680,000 and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and Ruba ...

, the

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...

and its largest city. The coordinates of the head office are 0°03'49.0"N, 32°28'13.0"E (Latitude:0.063611; Longitude:32.470278). It was reported in Ugandan media in May 2018, that NMS would re-locate its headquarters from Entebbe to Kajjansi, upon the completion of construction of the new logistics center at the new location in 2019. National Medical Stores maintains regional offices at the following locations: # Entebbe Head Office:

, Central Uganda # Arua Regional Office:

Arua Arua is a city and commercial centre within the Arua District in the Northern Region of Uganda. Location Arua is approximately , by road, north-west of Kampala, the capital and largest city of Uganda, Arua is about , by road, west of Gulu, the ...

, West Nile # Gulu Regional Office: Gulu, Northern Uganda # Hoima Regional Office:

Hoima Hoima is a city in the Western Region of Uganda. It is the main municipal, administrative, and commercial center of Hoima District. It is also the location of the palace of the Omukama of Bunyoro. Location Hoima is approximately , by road, nort ...

, Western Uganda # Kabarole Regional Office:

Fort Portal Fort Portal or Kabarole is a city located in the Western Region of Uganda. It is the seat of both Kabarole District and historically of the Toro Kingdom. Location Fort Portal in Kabarole District is located approximately by road, west of Kampal ...

, Western Uganda # Kampala Regional Office:

, Buganda Region # Mbale Regional Office: Mbale, Eastern Uganda # Mbarara Regional Office:

Mbarara Mbarara City is a city in the Western Region of Uganda and the second largest city in Uganda after Kampala. The city is divided into 6 boroughs of Kakoba Division, Kamukuzi Division, Nyamitanga Division, Biharwe Division, Kakiika Division, Nyakay ...

, Western Uganda # Moroto Regional Office: Moroto, Northern Uganda # Soroti Regional Office: Soroti, Eastern Uganda The agency works in collaboration with the

Uganda Ministry of Health The Ministry of Health is a cabinet-level government ministry of Uganda. It is responsible for planning, delivering, and maintaining an efficient and effective healthcare delivery system, including preventive, curative, and rehabilitative service ...

and all healthcare facilities, including Health Centers IIs, IIIs and IVs, General Hospitals, Regional Referral Hospitals and National Referral Hospitals.

Overview

NMS was created by the Ugandan legislature in 1993.

Governance

The agency is governed by a 15-person board of directors, which serves for a four-year renewable term. Its members include the following individuals, effective August 2018. (1) Jotham Musinguzi: Chairman (2) Medard Bitekyerezo (3) Hanifah Namaala Sengendo (4) Samuel Orochi (5) Justinian Niwagaba (6) Laban Mbulamuko (7) Kenneth Omoding (8) Kate Nalukenge (9) Naome Kibaaju (10)

Christine Ondoa Christine Joyce Dradidi Ondoa is a physician and medical administrator who is regarded as one of Uganda's finest leaders especially in ensuring that the quality of health service delivery in Uganda is improved, and discipline and ethical code o ...

(11) Richard Mugahi (12) Emmanuel Osuna (13) Beatrice Lagaba (14) Shaban Abdullah and (15) Timothy Musila.

Kajjansi Logistics Centre

As of November 2017, NMS was in the process of constructing a modern pharmaceutical and medical equipment warehouse in the town of Kajjansi, approximately , by road, northeast of the NMS headquarters in Entebbe. The new warehouse is partly funded by the

Global Fund The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (or simply the Global Fund) is an international financing and partnership organization that aims to "attract, leverage and invest additional resources to end the epidemics of HIV/AIDS, t ...

, which has contributed US$7.6 million and by the

GAVI GAVI, officially Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (previously the GAVI Alliance, and before that the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization) is a public–private global health partnership with the goal of increasing access to immunization ...

international vaccination initiative, which contributed US$1.5 million. Completion was slated for June 2019. In November 2018, GAVI approved US$5.6 million (

USh Uqturpan County, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency or Uchturpan County ( transliterated from ; ), also Wushi County (), is a county in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region under the administration of Aksu Prefecture and shar ...

:21 billion) and the Uganda government committed

:20 billion (US$5.4 million) towards the construction of the facility. At the time of its commissioning, Ugandan media reported that the warehouse and office complex cost USh:69 billion (approx. US$18.5 million) to construct. The facility, which sits on of land, will be mounted with solar panels capable of generating 300kV of electricity, providing 50 percent of the energy needs of the project. The warehouse will have a vaccine workshop, a quality control laboratory, offices for more than 200 staff, cold storage rooms, garages and space to accommodate 30,000 pallets of medication. In comparison, the storage in Entebbe can accommodate a maximum of only 12,980 pallets.

References

External links