Uganda: Health Committee calls for probe into drug theft, extortion at Iganga, Bugiri Hospitals

Health Committee calls for probe into drug theft, extortion at Iganga, Bugiri Hospitals The House Committee on Health has asked the Resident District Commissioners (RDCs) of Iganga and Bugiri districts to investigate allegations of theft of medicines, extortion and mismanagement of funds in government hospitals there. The committee gave the instructions during its oversight visit to health facilities in Eastern Uganda on Tuesday, 08 September 2026. At Iganga General Hospital, MPs uncovered serious gaps in the management and accountability of government medicines, raising suspicion that weak record-keeping could be facilitating theft and diversion. Some medicines found in the hospital stores had no supporting documents indicating how they were received. Other medicines had been reported out of stock, but hospital officials could not produce records showing how they had been dispensed until the supplies were exhausted. Hon. Hope Nakazibwe, who led the committee said the irregularities made it difficult to establish the quantities of medicines delivered to the hospital and how they were used. “We found some medicines that cannot be accounted for. Their inlet and outlet are unknown, an