By Agnes Kiconco

KIU, Main Campus - National Medical Stores (NMS) the organization mandated to procure, store and distribute essential medicines and medical supplies to all public health facilities across the country has ventured into a digital platform dubbed NMS plus (NMS+).

The NMS+ digital platform is aimed at improving efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery by promoting e-services in the health sector and ease the supply and demand chain hence making management easier.

"NMS Uganda is excited to announce that we have started delivering medicines ordered online to government health facilities through a digital platform dubbed NMS+," announced NMS.

So far, 278 health facilities are using the NMS+ digital platform including National Referral Hospitals, National Institutes, General hospitals, Regional Referral Hospitals and Health Centre IVs.

Following this development, government hospitals can now place their orders for medicines to NMS electronically on NMS+ and have the medicines delivered in time.

The new e-services procedure NMS+ has replaced the paper-based requisition forms, which were slow, tedious and time-consuming leading to the delayed supply of medicines in health facilities.

Last Friday, 13th August, NMS made its first maiden deliveries of medicines ordered using NMS+ to Moroto, Jinja, Mbale and Soroti Regional Referral Hospitals, Kawolo, Buwenge, Kamuli, Masafu, Bududa and Kayunga General Hospitals, as well as to Bududa and Manafwa districts.

With the newly received donation of 299,520 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the Government of UK under the dose sharing arrangement and the NMS+ delivery procedure, the Ministry of Health alongside NMS is determined to put an end to the pandemic through effective and efficient delivery of vaccines to several health facilities across the country.

Photo: Ministry of Health