Speaking to URN in an interview, Abiaz Rwamwiri, NDA’s Public Relations Officer, said they stormed several shops along Wilson Street in Kampala over the weekend, where they arrested ten suspects who were, among other things, found in possession of boxes of HIV drugs and test kits whose expiry dates had been altered to extend their shelf life.
The operation, covered the suburbs of Nansana, Kira, Makindye, Nakawa, Kawempe, Rubaga, Kyengera, Bweyogerere, Kajjansi, kasangati, Entebbe, Matugga, and Bulenga among many others across the region that the authority classifies as Kampala Extra Region.
According to Dr Sam Nkuba Bainomugisha the Senior Inspector of Drugs at Kampala NDA Extra Office, 32 drug shops in Nakaseke and 19 drugs in Nakasongola were found operating illegally.
During a press conference organized to commemorate World Drug Day, Rogers Kasirye, the Executive Director of Uganda Youth Development Link (UYDEL), emphasized that laws have proven ineffective in stopping drug abuse among users.
During a media briefing held alongside the International Family Planning Conference, Dr. Richard Mugahi, the Assistant Commissioner in charge of Reproductive and Infant Health, expressed concern over the pill, which is suspected to have caused the sudden death of Barbara Atwiine at the Uganda Police headquarters in Naguru in March this year.
According to Abiaz Rwamwiri, NDA’s Public Relations Officer, the product is laced with diazinon, a highly concentrated fumigant used to kill bedbugs, bats, and termites.
Dr. Beyeza Tito, the Tooro Kingdom Health Minister said that they have heard complaints of people using Panadol to soften foods such as beans and the youth crushing Anti-retroviral drugs for HIV and smoking them.
Samuel Kyomukama, the head of enforcement at NDA says the operation was conducted in Masaka, Rakai, Kalangala, and Sembabule districts, targeting unlicensed human and veterinary drugs outlets that were earlier issued with closure notices over noncompliance with set standards.
Olivier van Beemen a Dutch journalist and author of the book Heineken in Africa addressed a press conference on Tuesday where he shared that the Amsterdam-based beer company had launched a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) campaign against alcohol consumption in Rwanda but they were indirectly promoting the brand to learners.
Abiaz Rwamwiri, the Authority’s Public Relations Officer told journalists on Thursday that with increasing complaints of misleading information and claims that some soft drinks contain curative properties against specific diseases, they decided to start dialoguing with broadcasters to stop airing the adverts.
NDA will be operating in all the 37 Dioceses under the Church of Uganda where they will hold training and enroll in care for those that will come out to confess their drug abuse-related problems.
The Head of veterinary services NDA, Jeanne Muhindo, says that the culprits have been duplicating pesticides for spraying bedbugs, cockroaches and other insects and re-package them as acaricides for spraying animal, which they rebrand as Tick Burn.
