Webinar: Advancing Community Pharmacy - Uganda

Dr William Kalule, Pharmacist, Lubaga Hospital

“I’m by the names of Dr Kalule William, I’m a hospital pharmacist from Uganda Martyrs’ Hospital Lubaga – that’s found in Kampala, Uganda. ART Access, just like the name says, we’re trying to improve access of ART – of antiretroviral therapy. It’s a programme that was brought in by the Ministry of Health to improve access of these medicines, and to try and decongest the hospitals, and try to bring more of the community pharmacies into play.

“The essence is: there was a bit of stigma for some clients, and it was affecting compliance. So the Ministry came up with that programme to try and help those clients that are not comfortable with coming to the hospitals to access their medications, [to access them] from the community pharmacy. This process is majorly being used in the urban setting, and it has been piloted for people living with HIV and AIDS.

“Community pharmacists play a big role in this programme. One, in order for a pharmacist to be accredited to offer this service, the pharmacist has to ensure that he does meet certain criteria. So it’s very key for the pharmacy to be qualified due to the fact that the pharmacist [needs to] ensure that this is available: the storage conditions, suitable staffing, adherence to legal requirements and ethical principles. So that’s [a] very key [role] that the community pharmacists have played.

“The training was offered to both the pharmacist and the other support staff – all that was covered by IDI [the Infectious Diseases Institute]. The subsequent trainings are offered by the pharmacists in their respective areas.

“To the patients, the service is free. But for continuity, the government gives half a dollar for each client served. That’s an incentive given to the pharmacy for each client served, but the client exclusively does not have to pay anything.

“The enablers of this ART Access programme have been, one, the policy: coming right from the top that this can be done was a very big enabler. Secondly, the willingness and attitude: one, from the healthcare workers from the hospital; at the same time, in the community pharmacy. It increases their presence and their visibility more to the public. So those have been very key at having this programme progress.”