First Pharmacy has given 24 hours ultimatum to Police to apologise for dragging it into allegations of theft of 600 doses of Astra-Zeneca vaccines.
Yesterday, the Ministry of Health together with the Crime Intelligence of Police seized 600 doses of Astra-Zeneca vaccines from various pharmacies and arrested 10 people in connection to illegal activity. According to Kampala metropolitan police spokesperson Luke Owesigire, the pharmacies include; Victoria pharmacy in Ntinda and First Pharmacy Mulago.
According to Eyewitness, the raiding took place on Friday afternoon and several doses of the vaccines were recovered from the building next to First Pharmacy Mulago. The source said fridges and other items were taken from the facility and scores were arrested.
The Managing Director of First Pharmacy, Ahmed Yusuf, has however refuted all the allegations saying they are baseless and they have CCTV footage showing police officers who came and entered the building right next to their medical facility housing Modern Diagnostic Laboratory and Uganda Nurses and Midwives Union at Mulago.
“We want to set the record straight, that it is not true that police raided First Pharmacy not in Mulago or in any of our branches in Wandegeya. Police didn’t arrest any of my staff or get Covid-19 Astra-Zeneca vaccines because we don’t deal in any of covid-19 vaccines,” Ahmed said.
“When we checked with the police, they said it was a minor error and a misplaced identification. It is wrong for police to get facts wrong because the allegations have cost our reputation. We demand an apology from the police about serious allegations made. We can’t be known for stealing Covid-19 vaccines,” he said.
The company threatened to take legal action against the security organ if it fails to issue an apology.
