Ntagali challenges pharmacists to fight counterfeit drugs on the Ugandan market

Additional reporting by Lawrence Ddumba 

The outgoing Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, His Grace Stanley Ntagali has asked pharmacists to ensure drugs on market are safe to protect the lives of Ugandans.

Ntagali said that many Ugandans are contracting life threatening diseases like Cancer from using counterfeit drugs or poorly tested drugs because pharmacists are letting them get onto the market.

Medics say that the consumption of substandard drugs can lead to severe health effects like kidney damage if they are used over a long period of time. The drugs can also lead to antibiotic resistance.

Ntagali made the remarks to the staff of Joint Medical Store (JMS) during his visit at their offices in Kampala. JMS is the leading private provider of pharmaceutical products in Uganda.

The Arch-Bishop made the remarks while bidding a farewell to the workers of the Joint Medical stores at Nsambya a Kampala suburb, where the Protestant Medical Bureau and the Catholics jointly owns shares.

JMS is the leading private provider of pharmaceutical products in Uganda.

In 2020, the Archbishop Stanley Ntagali will hand over the pastoral staff to archbishop-elect Dr Stephen Samuel Kaziimba .

At the same meeting the executive director JMS, Dr Bildard Baguma, in an interview with Nile Post assured Ugandans that JMS is doing its best to ensure all drugs released to the population are safe for use.