Uganda’s Parliamentary Committee on Health has ordered an investigation into suspected irregularities in the management of medicines at Iganga General Hospital amid concerns over the possible theft and diversion of government drugs.

The directive followed an oversight visit to the hospital on Tuesday, during which the committee discovered medicines in the hospital stores without supporting records showing how they had been received.

The absence of documentation raised questions about the hospital’s ability to properly account for medicines supplied to the facility and prompted legislators to call for an investigation into how the drugs were acquired, stored and managed.

During the visit, the committee also found concerns surrounding medicines that had previously been reported as out of stock. Hospital officials were unable to provide records showing how some of the medicines had been dispensed before the supplies were exhausted.

The gaps in the records made it difficult for the committee to establish a clear trail of how medicines moved from the hospital stores to patients or other points of use.

The Committee on Health, led by Hon. Hope Grania Nakazibwe, said the weaknesses in record-keeping could create opportunities for the theft and diversion of government medicines.

Following the findings, MPs tasked the Resident District Commissioner with investigating the suspected theft of medicines at the hospital and ensuring that those found responsible are brought to book.

The committee further directed that medicines found in the hospital stores without supporting documentation be withdrawn and secured until their source and ownership are established.

The directive is intended to safeguard the medicines while investigations determine how they came into the hospital’s possession and whether they were legitimately supplied to the facility.

The investigation is also expected to establish whether the gaps identified by the committee were caused by poor administrative practices, inadequate record-keeping or deliberate attempts to divert government medicines.

Proper documentation is a critical part of medicine management in Uganda’s public health facilities because records allow health authorities to track medicines from the time they are received to the point at which they are issued to patients.

Poor stock management can make it difficult to distinguish genuine medicine shortages from losses caused by mismanagement, theft or diversion. It can also undermine efforts to ensure that government medicines reach patients who depend on public health facilities.

The concerns raised at Iganga General Hospital come against a broader backdrop of challenges surrounding the management of medicines in Uganda’s health sector, including stock-outs, expiry of medicines and weaknesses in inventory management.

Parliament has previously raised concerns over the management of medicines at public health facilities, with legislators calling for stronger systems to ensure that drugs supplied by government are properly accounted for and reach the intended beneficiaries.

The latest intervention at Iganga General Hospital places renewed focus on accountability within public hospitals and the need for accurate records covering the receipt, storage and dispensing of medicines.

The Resident District Commissioner’s investigation is expected to establish what happened to the medicines, why some supplies were reported out of stock without adequate dispensing records and whether any individuals breached procedures governing government medicines.

For patients and communities that rely on Iganga General Hospital, the investigation could help clarify the causes of medicine shortages and strengthen accountability for supplies intended for public use.

The Health Committee’s action also underscores Parliament’s continued scrutiny of medicine management in public health facilities, particularly where unexplained stocks, missing records and discrepancies in reported supplies make it difficult to account for government resources.

As the investigation proceeds, the committee has directed that medicines without supporting documentation remain secured pending verification of their source and ownership, while authorities work to establish whether the record-keeping failures at Iganga General Hospital were administrative lapses or evidence of wider problems in the management of government medicines.