Uganda loses medicine export deals to Kenya

A health worker dispenses medicine to a patient at Kiswa Health Centre recently. Uganda has lost between 50 to 60 per cent of its medicine export business to Kenya. Photo by Steven Wandera 

By  Stephen Wandera

Kampala- Uganda has lost nearly half of its medicine export business to Kenya, local drug manufacturers have said.

According to Uganda Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (UPMA) chairperson, the country has lost between 50 to 60 per cent of its exports to competition in the neighbouring country.

“Early this year, National Drug Authority (NDA) banned medicine packaging in jars, containers of about 1,000 tablets that had market in South Sudan, DR Congo and Rwanda. Local manufactures have now changed packaging to blisters, smaller packets containers of about 10 tablets or pills. These new products are more expensive to put on the market. Most of our importers of drugs from the Great Lakes Region have now switched to Kenya where medicines are still packed in the big containers that is more profitable,” UPMA chairperson Nazeem Mohamed told journalists.

Mr Mohamed was on Tuesday making a presentation to scribes at a meeting on Non Communicable Diseases convened by Centre for Health, Human Rights & Development at Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala.

He said they (six UPMA member firms) are only left with one client, National Medical Stores that takes about 40 per cent of their initial production that is supplied to hospitals.

The spokesperson NDA, Mr Fred Ssekyana, defended the ban saying it is for public safety.

“Before the ban, you would find a drug shop or clinic with a container of 1000 tablets that takes almost a year. Due to constant opening and closing of the container, the drugs get contaminated. With drugs packed in blisters, we are assured that the public will have safe medicines,” he said. In a couple of months, NDA has closed about 3,000 drug stores, pharmacies and clinics without legal requirements to operate their businesses.





Mr Mohamed urged East Africa Community governments to speed up investment in upgrading the Mombasa- Kampala railway line to reduce on the cost of transporting drug raw materials.

“Transporting a 40-feet container from Mombasa to Kampala is three times more expensive than to transport the same load from Mumbai, India to Mombasa. We are also spending a lot on power, “ he said.




On the high power tariffs, Mr Mohamed said: “Every month, my company, Kampala Pharmaceutical Industries (1996) Limited pays Umeme a bill of Shs78 million for electricity. If government can give us power for free, the cost of medicine would come down drastically.”