Government fails to give kits to hospitals for arms licence

Manav Mander

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, May 25

Although the Punjab Government has made the dope test compulsory for the applicants who want fresh or renewal of arms licence, but the government has forgot to send the testing kits for the same to the Civil Hospitals.

Earlier, five tests were being done for conducting the dope tests and kits were also sent to the respective hospitals. But later, the government had made 10 tests compulsory , but the kits are not available. Now, the hospitals are procuring the kits at their own level.

The problem does not end here since the kits for detecting codeine are unavailable in the market. So, Civil Hospital, Ludhiana, is conducting only nine tests instead of 10.

Now, dope test includes medical examination and basic lab test. Applicants are screened for Morphine, Codeine, D Propoxyphene, Benzodiazepines, 9 Tetra Hydro Cannabinol, Barbiturates, Cocaine, Amphetamines, Buprenorphine and Tramadol. The applicants are also examined for mental and physical fitness and during the test to know if they were not dependent on any intoxicating or narcotic substance.

Dr Bindu from laboratory at Civil Hospital, Ludhiana, said, earlier, there were five tests and now 10 tests have been made mandatory. “The hospital has failed to receive the kits and we are procuring the same at our own level. In addition to this, the kit for testing Codeine is not available in the market so we are conducting only nine tests,” said Dr Bindu.

Meanwhile, Dr Rajinder Gulati, Senior Medical Officer at Civil Hospital, Khanna, said, the case is same at their hospital as well.

“Kits were not sent after 10 tests were made compulsory. We are purchasing at our own level. The kit for Codeine is unavailable in the market but we are using the kit for morphine for codeine as well because the products detected are same for Morphine and Codeine,” said Dr Gulati.

Dr Geeta, Senior Medical Officer of Civil Hospital, Ludhiana, said their hospital was getting kits for only five tests although they are conducting 10 tests for the dope detection. “We have written to the department for the remaining five kits but we have been told to procure the same at our own level. One kit is not available in the market also so we are mentioning ‘test not available’ on the reports of the dope test,” she said.