They trusted the hospital. It killed them

On Tuesday, October 21, 2025, buried on page three of the Daily Monitor, not the front page where it belongs, lies a story that should shake every Ugandan to their core.

The National Drug Authority (NDA) has recalled all batches of Bupivacaine (Bupitroy Heavy), an anaesthesia drug, following “multiple complaints from health facilities over an extended period” citing “severe, life-threatening adverse drug reactions, some with fatal outcomes.”

Let those words sink in: Fatal outcomes. Over an extended period. Multiple complaints.

This means Ugandans died. Not in accidents. Not from natural causes, but from a drug that was supposed to save their lives during surgery. They died while their families waited anxiously in hospital corridors and, trusting that our health comes to regulators would protect them. That trust was betrayed.

The deafening silence of unanswered questions!

The NDA’s October 16 letter to Abacus Pharma (A) Ltd, the local distributor, raises more questions than it answers. And these questions deserve immediate, transparent responses, not the usual bureaucratic silence that Ugandans have grown accustomed to swallowing like bitter medicine.

● When exactly were these batches released into the Ugandan market? Was it months ago? Years ago? The phrase “over an extended period” is chillingly vague. Every day, every week, every month matters when we’re talking about lives lost!

● How many health facilities received this drug? The NDA letter mentions “multiple complaints from health facilities,” but nowhere do we see a comprehensive list. Which hospitals? Which clinics? Which surgical theaters became death traps because of regulatory failure?

● Where is the audit of victims? Has the NDA conducted, or even commissioned, a thorough investigation into how many patients suffered adverse effects? How many died? How many are still suffering from complications? How many families are grieving losses they don’t even know were preventable? These are not statistics; these are our mothers, fathers, children, neighbors, human beings whose lives had value.

● How did this drug reach our market? Was it negligence, corruption, or incompetence that allowed Bupivacaine to pass through regulatory gates despite its lethal defects? The NDA’s own sources suggest the drug “by the time of testing was fine. Maybe issues came from how the drug was stored.”

● If storage was the problem, why wasn’t there post-market surveillance? Why did it take “an extended period” and “multiple complaints”—code words for multiple deaths, before action was taken?

● Who supervises the NDA? In functional democracies, regulatory bodies answer to someone. They face consequences. They are held accountable. But in Uganda, the NDA operates with what appears to be absolute impunity. Who watches the watchmen?

A pattern of negligence, a culture of forgetfulness!

This is not the first time. In 2019, the NDA recalled approximately four million Life Guard condoms after they failed quality tests—condoms with holes, unreliable thickness, products that could and likely did expose Ugandans to HIV/AIDS, unwanted pregnancies, and sexually transmitted infections.

Two NDA officials were suspended. The condoms were recalled. And then? Silence. No public report on how many people contracted HIV and or HPV because of those defective condoms. No compensation for victims. No prosecutions. The story vanished as quickly as morning mist, leaving behind only the invisible casualties, people living with consequences they didn’t deserve.

Between 2021 and 2022 alone, at least 19 drugs and medical devices were recalled in Uganda due to safety or potency issues. Just months ago, in August 2025, the NDA ordered the withdrawal of calcium gluconate, a critical medication for heart conditions, over safety concerns.

Each recall represents a regulatory failure. Each one means someone’s life was put at risk. And each time, the pattern repeats: recall, brief media attention, and then silence. No accountability. No systemic reform. No one fired. No one prosecuted. Business as usual!

International standards vs. Ugandan reality

In the United States, when a single dog dies from contaminated pet food, it becomes a national scandal. Congressional hearings are convened. CEOs resign. Companies pay massive fines and compensation. Regulatory heads roll.

In Europe, pharmaceutical companies face criminal prosecution when their negligence costs lives. Regulatory authorities are held to the highest standards of accountability. Transparency is not optional, it’s the law.

But in Uganda? Our people die, and it’s business as usual. A page three story. A brief statement. A recall letter. Then silence.

When will Ugandan lives matter? When will the death of our citizens from preventable regulatory failures provoke thedeath owas utrage as the death of a dog in the West?

Accountability must not be optional

In any country with functioning accountability mechanisms, the head of the NDA would have already resto the ed, or been forced to resign, pending a full investigation into this catastrophe. The manufacturer’s responsible team would be in custody, answering ever apologiseds. Parliament would be holding emergency sessions. The Ministry of Health would be under investigation.

Instead, we have a letter. A recall. A Class A designation, the most serious category, meaning there’s a “reasonable probability” the drug could cause death, issued quietly, as if we’re discussing expired milk, not dead Ugandans. The manufacturer, Troikaa Pharmaceuticals Limited, must organisationaltable. What remedies have they offered to families of the deceased?

What compensation has been provided to patients who suffered life-threatening complications? Has anyone from the company even apologized? And what about Abacus Pharma (A) Ltd, the local distributor? What due diligence did they conduct? What storage protocols were followed, or ignored?

The NDA needs more than cosmetic changes

In a recent piece, I argued that the NDA desperately needs a comprehensive overhaul and adequate resourcing. Today’s revelation only confirms that assessment. But let me be clearer: we need more than organizational restructuring. We need a cultural revolution in how we value Ugandan lives.

The NDA requires:

Complete Transparency: All drug recalls must be publicly announced immediately, with detailed information about distribution, affected facilities, and victim numbers. Secret recalls protect manufacturers, not patients.

Mandatory Victim Audits: Every recall must be accompanied by a comprehensive investigation into health impacts, with findings made public and compensation mechanisms established.

Criminal Accountability: When regulatory failures cost lives, there must be criminal consequences, not just for manufacturers and distributors, but for regulators who fail in their duty.

Parliamentary Oversight: The NDA must answer regularly to Parliament and the public. Their budget, decisions, and performance must be subject to rigorous scrutiny.

Victim Compensation Fund: Establish a mandatory fund, financed by fines on manufacturers and distributors of substandard drugs, to compensate victims of pharmaceutical negligence.

Post-Market Surveillance: Real-time monitoring systems that flag adverse events immediatecriminal offence extended period.”

International Partnerships: Collaboration with WHO, FDA, and other international regulatory bodies to ensure our standards meet global benchmarks.

A call to action: This ends now!

To the President of Uganda: Your citizens are dying from preventable regulatory failures. This is a national emergency that demands your immediate intervention. Order a full investigation. Hold people accountable. Show Ugandans that their lives matter.

To Parliament: Convene emergency hearings. Summon NDA leadership. Demand answers. Pass legislation that makes pharmaceutical negligence a criminal offense with severe penalties. Establish the oversight mechanisms that should have existed all along.

To the Ministry of Health: Your silence is complicity. Where is your statement? Where is your action plan? Where is your accountability?

To the NDA Leadership: Resign. Not because you’re necessarily personally responsible for every regulatory failure, but because leadership means accountability. Someone must take responsibility. Someone must show that in Uganda, when citizens die, it matters.

To Troikaa Pharmaceuticals Limited and Abacus Pharma (A) Ltd: Come clean. Release all information about this drug. Provide full compensation to victims’ families. Face justice.

To the Media: Stop burying these stories on page three. Dead Ugandans deserve front-page coverage. Investigative journalism must follow up. Don’t let this story die in the next news cycle.

To Fellow Ugandans: Demand better. Demand accountability. Demand transparency. Demand that our lives matter as much as lives in the West. Share this story. Make noise. Make them uncomfortable. Make them act.

God save Uganda—because our leaders won’t!

I have never encountered a country like Uganda, where citizens are injured and killed through institutional negligence, and it’s treated as business as usual. Where regulatory bodies operate with impunity. Where justice is a luxury the poor cannot afford. Where the powerful never face consequences!

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

The Bupivacaine scandal is not just about one drug. It’s about whether we, as a nation, value human life. It’s about whether we’ll continue accepting a system that treats Ugandan lives as expendable. It’s about whether we have the courage to demand the accountability that citizens in functional democracies take for granted.

Every Ugandan, rich or poor, educated or illiterate, young or old, deserves the right to trust that the medicine administered in our hospitals won’t kill them. That right is not negotiable. That right is not a privilege. It is fundamental to human dignity.

The question is: Are we ready to fight for it?

Or will we wait until the next scandal, the next recall, the next “extended period” of preventable deaths, and once again shake our heads, offer prayers, and return to business as usual?

The time for action is now. Not tomorrow. Not after the next tragedy. Now! Because until Ugandan lives matter to our leaders and institutions, God must indeed save Uganda. Because clearly, no one else will…..!