Doc alleges illegal sale of drugs to PGIMS patients

Sunit Dhawan

Tribune News Service

Rohtak, February 20

An associate professor at the Pt Bhagwat Dayal Sharma University of Health Sciences (UHS) has alleged illegal sale of medicines to patients admitted to the local PGIMS for a more than a decade.

A private vendor sold medicines of a particular brand to dialysis patients admitted to a certain ward, associate professor Dr Amit Mann said in a communiqué to the authorities. He is also the head of the nephrology department at the University of Health Sciences.

“The practice has been going for more than a decade in connivance with a senior professor in charge of the ward and other staff members,” he claimed.

Dr OP Kalra, UHS Vice-Chancellor, confirmed to have received the letter. “The matter is in my notice. The university is getting the matter examined and will take action,” he said.

In the letter, a copy of which is with The Tribune, Dr Mann said he had brought the matter to the notice of the authorities several times and had even furnished a DVD showing the illegal sale of medicines, but to no avail.

The head of department further said that at one point of time, a Vigilance inquiry was conducted into the illegal practice, but it was later stopped for “unknown reasons”. “Certain staff members at the ward have not been shifted for the past 10 years. This indicates their connivance with the vendor and patronage of senior functionaries.”

He alleged ward staffers changed prescription of patients to facilitate the sale of a particular brand.

“A senior professor, who has special interest in nephrology, had misused his designation to influence and float tenders on behalf of the department and even signed as HoD, nephrology, in certain communications to the purchase department,” Dr Mann said.

He demanded an inquiry into the matter.