Government moves to take over yellow fever immunisation

Apr 13, 2017

The health ministry's permanent secretary Dianah Atwiine told the media that the move is aimed at ensuring that the right people give out the vaccines and authenticated certificates.

Old yellow fever card. By Norman Katende 

The Health Ministry has moved to stop the fraudulent acquisition of fake yellow fever vaccination certificates and also the charging of the exorbitant prices to Ugandans by managing the entire process.

The process will only see vaccination certificates that have been printed and approved by the ministry being issued from 22 medical facilities countrywide, with many being issued free of charge as government will be providing the vaccines to this medical outlet.

The health ministry's permanent secretary Dianah Atwiine told the media that the move is aimed at ensuring that the right people give out the vaccines and authenticated certificates."Some people have been giving out fake certificates.

So many people wanted to take on this role but we have only selected you. We have printed the cards but make sure you protect them.  We are going to serialise them and also  get specimen signatures of the persons in charge of issuing out these cards  and  send them to  the different  border stations and visa handling services," said Atwiine.

Atwiine also warned that this is not a money minting venture but a service to others.

"We may not come out and clearly say that this is the price you have to charge, but let us know that this is a service and that is why we selected you specifically to handle this. For those facilities that we give free vaccinations, the services should be for free," Atwiine said.

Acting commissioner for clinical services Dr Jackson Amone noted that the centres are distributed across the country to ensure minimum disturbance of persons to get the vaccines. He also warned of an impending crack down of fake certificates, which are mostly sold in Kampala and other border areas.

"This will ensure that people get the right vaccines. We are ready to register all the facilities involved in the fraudulent process of making these certificates," Amone said.

Last year, there was a misunderstanding between KCCA and National Medical store, after KCCA was accused of overcharging for the Yellow Fever Vaccine yet they were getting the drugs from the National Medical Store.

This forced NMS to promise to open up other centres were the vaccines can be administered including Rushoroza HC 2, Rugarama Hospital, Tororo and Masafu among other outlets in Kampala including KCCA.

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