Civil Hospital grapples with shortage of medicines

Ravi Chandel

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, February 12

The Bhai Mani Singh Civil Hospital has been facing a shortage of essential medicines for the past few months.

At the emergency ward of the Civil Hospital, medicines such as dexamethasone, phenytoin sodium and anti-rabies vaccine are running out of stock.

Some patients told Bathinda Tribune that on a number of occasions, they were forced to purchase medicines from private chemist stores. Besides, medicine stores on the premises of the Civil Hospital also didn’t have some of these medicines at times, they said.

A hospital employee, on condition of anonymity, said, “The anti-rabies vaccine has been out of the stock for the past six months. At least, we always ensure that life-saving drugs are available at the emergency ward.”

He confirmed that patients are buying medicines from private stores. Patients undergoing surgeries are also bearing the brunt of shortage of medicines.

Senior Medical Officer (SMO) of the Civil Hospital Sukhjinder Singh Gill accepted the fact that several essential life-saving drugs had been running out of stock for the past few months. “We often purchase medicines, which we can afford, to provide better healthcare facilities at the emergency ward,” he added.

Another hospital employee said they had purchased medicines on various occasions to meet the demand, but there were some medicines that were not even available at private medical stores.

Satish Goyal, SMO, Mother and Child Care Hospital, said in view of the current scenario, they purchase medicines from private medical stores after taking NOC from the drug warehouse.