By: Boy Fidel Leon
Trust in public services in Uganda, has often been a foreign language that many have failed to learn. The National Medical Stores (NMS) is betting that technology can rebuild confidence. One delivery at a time.
The Minister of State for ICT and National Guidance, Hon. Godfrey Kabyanga, paid a visit to the NMS’s warehouse in Kajjansi. This is the largest government-owned medical warehouse in Africa. He also declared it a “pride of Uganda.”
The Kajjansi hub is more than a storage facility. It has become the nerve centre of a new experiment. The experiment uses digital tools to make the country’s health supply chain more transparent.
The medical distribution system in Uganda has for years faced complaints of missing drugs, delays, and lack of accountability. But at NMS, innovation has taken centre stage. The warehouse in Kajjansi is not just about scale, it is about visibility.
The Delivery Monitoring Tool (DMT) was presented to over 30 government communicators during the minister’s visit. The tool allows stakeholders and the public to know in real time when and where medicines have been delivered. SMS alerts are sent directly to Resident District Commissioners, Members of Parliament, Chief Administrative Officers, District Health Officers, and even intelligence officers. GPS-enabled trucks and cameras mounted in NMS vehicles add another layer of surveillance, ensuring that every consignment can be tracked from dispatch to delivery.
“This technology provides full transparency from dispatch to delivery. Improving accountability and building trust with both stakeholders and the public,” explained NMS General Manager, Moses Kamabare.
For Kabyanga, the Kajjansi warehouse is a symbol of the government trying to close the credibility gap with its people. “When citizens know what their government is doing for them, trust is built and impact is multiplied,” he told communicators. Urging them to amplify such achievements.
Uganda’s health sector has struggled with public scepticism. These have been fuelled by stories of empty shelves in health centres while official reports show drugs were supplied.
By putting technology in the driver’s seat, literally, with GPS-equipped trucks, NMS hopes to shift the narrative. Citizens may not care about warehouse capacity. But they deeply care about whether the medicine prescribed by a doctor is available at their local health centre.
But Kamabare also offered a reminder: supply chain efficiency is only half the battle. “While medicines are important, we must remind Ugandans that prevention is even better. More than 75% of diseases in Uganda are preventable,” he said. Challenging communicators to push messages that go beyond drugs to healthier lifestyles.
It was a subtle acknowledgement. No matter how efficient NMS becomes, a population burdened by preventable illness will always strain the system.
The visit also underscored the growing recognition within government that visibility matters. It is not enough to deliver medicines; the public must see and believe that delivery has happened. That is why Kabyanga’s call to communicators was pointed: bridge the gap between government action and citizen perception.
With NMS delivering to more than 3,400 government health facilities, the stakes are high. Each consignment is a test of government credibility.
Uganda’s experiment at Kajjansi could resonate beyond its borders. Across Africa, health supply chains have been criticised for opacity. Drugs often disappear before reaching patients. A model that uses technology to provide real-time, independent verification of deliveries can be copied and used elsewhere.
Still, challenges remain. Technology can track medicines, but it cannot guarantee they will not be misused once delivered. It also cannot address human factors at all. From negligence to outright corruption, that have plagued supply systems for decades.
Yet, for now, NMS stands as a case study in how technology can be used to transform public institutions. It is a story of machines and data, but also one of trust and accountability. Commodities are often more scarce than medicine itself.
If NMS succeeds, it will not only deliver drugs to health facilities but also deliver something even more precious; the reassurance that government can be both efficient and transparent.