When the National Drug Authority (NDA) closes an outlet, the headline is the number of shops shut. The detail that should worry every honest pharmacy owner is what the inspectors found inside: medicines that should not have been there at all. Over the past year the NDA has described stock labelled for government facilities on private shelves, medicines sold from open markets, and unlicensed premises run by unqualified people. This post looks at what the operations found and at the one habit that keeps a legitimate business clear of the problem: a purchase record behind every unit.
What the operations found
In November 2025 The Observer reported a week-long NDA operation across Kitgum, Gulu, Amolatar, Pader and Kwania that closed 45 clinics and seized 189 boxes of medicines worth more than UGX 125 million. The report said anti-malarials, malaria test kits and antiretrovirals intended for lower-level public health facilities were being sold through private clinics and pharmacies without authorisation. The NDA's spokesperson described drug theft as a highly concealed crime, and the report put the number of active drug-theft cases in Ugandan courts at over 100, with stolen drugs worth more than UGX 13 billion recovered since 2019.
In February 2026 The Independent reported a Teso sub-region operation that closed more than 105 outlets and impounded 260 boxes worth about UGX 65 million. The offences listed were unauthorised premises, missing licences and unqualified personnel, and an NDA senior inspector of drugs warned about medicines sold in open markets by unqualified vendors whose quality could not be guaranteed. The Uganda Broadcasting Corporation's account of a September 2025 western-region operation added an arrest for running a pharmacy without a valid licence and for unlawfully holding classified drugs.
Why this reaches licensed pharmacies
A licensed pharmacy does not set out to buy diverted stock. It happens in three ordinary ways: a salesman offers a familiar product at a price well below the usual wholesaler; a branch manager tops up from a nearby shop during a stock-out; or a staff member brings in product "from a friend" and books it as a cash purchase. In each case the shelf ends up holding units with no supplier invoice, no batch record and no way to show where they came from. If any of them carries a government mark, the owner is explaining a criminal offence, not a bookkeeping gap.
The habit: no invoice, no stock
The defence is procedural and cheap. Every unit that enters the shop enters through a recorded purchase from a named supplier, with the supplier's invoice number, the batch and the expiry written against the goods received. Nothing is shelved before it is booked. Cash purchases are allowed only from suppliers already on the approved list, and the invoice is still required.
This gives you three things an inspector can check in minutes:
- A supplier list of licensed wholesalers, with their licence details on file.
- A purchase ledger that matches invoices to deliveries and payments.
- A batch trail that links every batch on the shelf to the purchase that brought it in.
If the inspector picks up a box and asks where it came from, the answer is a document, not a story.
Approving suppliers
Keep the supplier list short and deliberate. Before adding a wholesaler, record its NDA licence details, its physical address and the name of the person you deal with. Review the list once a year. A new supplier offering an unusually low price on a product that is also supplied free in public facilities is the clearest warning sign the operations describe.
Spot checks that take ten minutes
Once a month, pick five products at random and trace them backwards: shelf to batch, batch to goods received, goods received to invoice, invoice to payment. If any link is missing, find out why before the next delivery. Do the same forwards for one recent invoice: every line should be on the shelf or in the sales records. These two small checks catch most of the ways unrecorded stock creeps in.
When something turns up
If a product with a government mark or without a traceable purchase is found, quarantine it, record it, and contact the NDA. The Independent's report notes that operators in the Teso operation were invited to the regional office for guidance on formalising their businesses rather than prosecuted outright, and the UBC report says the NDA's toll-free line is 0800 101 999. Owners who come forward with records are in a very different position from owners found with unexplained stock.
The wider point
Traceability is not extra administration on top of running a pharmacy. It is the same purchase record you need for pricing, for VAT, for expiry control and for your accountant. The NDA operations simply add one more reason to keep it complete.
Sources
Run the whole business from one login.
Point of sale, stock, CRM, accounting free in every plan, payroll and Kit AI. Start on the web today and add the till, the phone app and the desktop app as you grow.
No card needed · 14-day trial