The Uganda National Medical Stores commonly known as National Medical Stores is a government-owned Organization in Uganda, responsible for the procure (buy), store, and distribution of human medicines, medical supplies to all public health facilities including the police, prison, and Army in the country. It was established as a statutory corporation in 1993 by the Act of parliament.
In 2012 the mandate was further expanded to distribute vaccines across the country. Its headquarters are located in Kajansi Town council, plot 261, Kiwamirembe Road.
Vision: “A population with Adequate and Accessible quality medicines and medical supplies
Mission: “To effectively and efficiently supply essential medicines and medical supplies to health facilities in Uganda
Mandate: “To procure, store, and distribute
Core values:
• Customer Focus
• Operational Excellence
• Team work
• Accountability
• Integrity
NMS Objectives
• Strengthening institution efficiency and effectiveness
• Enhancing visibility of the supply chain EMHS
• Enhancing quality assurance mechanisms of NMS
• Increasing availability of EMHS
Its goal is to be a hub of excellence in the procurement, warehousing and distribution of medicines and cold chain supply in the region
How to contact National Medical Stores;
SMS: send to 6090
Tell: +(256)-417104000
Email: web @ nms.go.ug
Under its mandate it plays the following roles;
• Ensure nothing gets stolen on the way from warehouse to health facility end use
• To keep the security of medicines when in the warehouses and making sure that nothing is stolen.
• To store safely all drugs and medicines bought on behalf of the government of Uganda.
• Delivers medical supplies to the door step of each health facility consistently and efficiently.
National Medical Stores management Team includes;
- Moses Kamabare, general manager
- Apollo Newton Mwesigye, secretary
- Paul Okware,chief stores and operations officer
- Ntege Christopher,chief quality officer
- Lilian AUDO,chief finance and Accounts officer
- James Masawi,chief internal Auditor
- Anthony Ddamba, chief client services officer
- Stephen Kisuze, chief information, communication and Technology officer
- John Bosco Tukahumura, Chief human resource and Administration
- Alfred Natamba, chief procurement officer
NMS comprises of (13) departments and these include:
• General manager’s office
• Public relations department
• Secretary to the Board department
• Quality Assurance section department
• Risk management
• Client services department
• Stores and operations department
• Quality control department
• Procurement and Disposal unit
• Human resource and Administration department
• Finance and Accounts department
• ICT department
• Internal Audit department
The government of Uganda through the National Medical Stores distributes essential medicines to all government facilities all over the country.
It uses a centralized procurement plan or system and collaborates with all medical facilities to ensure a stable supply of medical supplies. It writes to all health facilities and ask them out of the budget what they need NMS to buy for them, the type of medicine supplies like syringes, cotton, gloves etc.
To enhance delivery, NMS has implemented several initiatives, such as the “LAST MILE” delivery system, which ensures timely and safe delivery of medical supplies to the end user.
National Medical Stores help the government agencies to be able to easily identify medicines that belong to the government. All medicines which go through medical stores are now embossed with a seal “UG NOT FOR SELL”, to ensure that medicines and medical supplies delivered are not stolen and sold on the open market.
NMS has expanded its infrastructure by constructing a new warehouse, facility which serves as the new headquarters for NMS located in Kajansi Town council, plot 261, which replaced Entebbe warehouse.
Despite its commitment NMS faces a challenge of limited resources, the available budget limits their work.