The National Drug Authority (NDA) will soon start censoring all media programmes promoting human and veterinary medicines use in the country.

Mr Dennis Mwesigwa, a senior drug inspector, told a drug stakeholders meeting in Kampala on June 26, that under the guidelines to be gazetted soon, all medicines of sexual potency and human reproduction system are banned from being advertised.

These include drugs claiming to heal impotence, infertility or sexually transmitted infections. The meeting attended by among others drug manufacturers, pharmacists and civil society at Hotel Equatoria agreed to stop promoting narcotic drugs in the media. Narcotics are drugs taken on strict prescription and monitoring.

Mwesigwa said newspaper adverts, supplements and radio/TV programmes, artworks and scripts will have to be submitted five days in advance to NDA for censuring and approval.

"The fine for non-compliance will range from 2.5 to 5 currency points, depending on the matter," Mwesigwa warned. Each Ugandan currency point is equivalent to Shs20,000. Under the same guidelines to be incorporated into the NDA statute, calendars, caps, diaries and road side adverts will also be censured.

But some drug manufacturers said NDA had limited capacity to handle all the media work for censorship. Others noted that some shrewd drug traders were selling drugs under the pretext of cosmetics, because the current law does not hinder cosmetics advertising. Ms Hulda Nassali, a Drug Information Officer said NDA would take into account the opinion of the stakeholders before forwarding the guidelines for gazetting.

She however said it was important to control drug promotions, because some drugs if consumed by the public without prescription could be toxic.