There is something demonic about the financial management of the health sector in Uganda.

Last week, Ministry of Health and National Drug Authority officials actually issued a public apology for letting tonnes of medicines expire in hospital stores across the country and for failing to use hundreds of millions of dollars provided by the Global Fund for healing sick people.

The health officials then proceeded to give explanations for their apparent ineptitude. They said the drugs expire in hospitals because the hospital storekeepers are old fashioned and do not understand modern management of pharmaceuticals. Please don’t ask who hires the storekeepers.

As it happens, everybody knows their little secret: Ever since the National Medical Stores (NMS) some years ago started delivering supplies to the “last mile” and embossing all medical packages and equipment, it became difficult to sell them in the open market, to the intense frustration of hospital and local government health administrators.

The officials promptly lost interest in ordering the required drugs from NMS and in many cases, began telling patients that certain medicines were not available even when they were in the stores.

As to the expiry of the much needed life-prolonging antiretroviral drugs in their possession, the officials who addressed the media last week said they well, regretted it. And on the use of expired test kits, which must have given thousands of people false results, they promised to investigate.

So why these promises and apologies that failed to impress? They were made in response to a Global Fund audit that the donors released a while back. And then the week before last, civil society people complained loudly over the non-action since the Global Fund report was released.

Insincere apologies prompted by donor reports just mock the people who have suffered from official mismanagement of the health sector. People know that public hospitals have been rotting and nobody wants apologies. They want corrective action.

A couple of months ago, a former dental consultant was at a regional hospital when a media team came calling. I call him “former” because he claims he is no longer a doctor, but a mere quack. This senior professional is in charge of dental services at the regional referral hospital.

The self-professed quack, who is a highly qualified doctor, told the media that his unit was forgotten ages ago and he does not remember when he last got supplies for sterilising equipment.

He then opened an old box to reveal his tools, which looked like a village bicycle mechanic’s discarded spanners. These, he explained, are the things he uses to operate in people’s mouths. He swore his job now was basically to spread disease.

Besides qualified doctors degenerating into quacks, we have had several cases of watchmen who promote themselves to doctors and start examining, prescribing and even operating. Then someone thinks what the nation needs is a fake apology!

Joachim Buwembo is a social and political commentator based in Kampala. E-mail: [email protected]