Essential drugs in short supply at Karnal hospital

Tribune News Service

Karnal, July 18

The dispensary at the Civil Hospital is facing shortage of medicines. Patients are forced to purchase medicine from private medical stores.

Sources in the Civil Hospital say as many as 560 medicines are listed in the essential drugs list (EDL). Of those, around 400 are available in the dispensary.

The hospital is running short of essential medicines such as Vitamin C and iron, Diclofenac Gel, cough syrup, skin disease ointments like Clobet-G, Clotrimoxazole, diabetes medicine Metformin, BP medicine – Telmisartan, Omeprazole, heart disease medicine – Atorva -10, 20, Ecosprin-75, 150 mg, Cefixime 200, Lactulose and others, sources said.

“I was asked to purchase medicines from outside the hospital as the dispensary does not have the supply of prescribed medicines,” said Neeraj Kumar, a patient.

A pregnant woman, who came here for check-up and was recommended iron pills, said that when she went to the pharmacy of the hospital, she was told that iron tablets were out of stock.

One of the employees, on the condition of anonymity, said that they have not received money under the Mukhyamantri Muft Ilaaj Yojana (MMIY), which is around Rs 25 lakh, and under the non-communicable disease (NCD) scheme, which is around Rs 1.5 lakh, for the past three months.

Dr Piyush Sharma, Principal Medical Officer (PMO), said that the demand for the medicines has been sent and it is expected that all the essential medicines would be available in a couple of days. “Emergency medicines are being procured locally,” he added.

The Principal Medical Officer admitted that complaints were being received that a couple of doctors were prescribing medicines available at private chemists and said that notice has been issued to these doctors. “Close vigil is being kept on such doctors,” he added.