Eyebrows raised over large cache of expired medicines found at Samrala Civil Hospital

The callous attitude of the staff at the Samrala Civil Hospital became palpitable as expired medicines worth lakhs were found lying in a storeroom.

The matter was brought to the notice of MLA Jagtar Singh Dayalpura who conducted a raid at the hospital. After breaking the lock of the storeroom, he found a large cache of expired medicines. The medicines had expired in 2021-2022.

“I will ask the Health Minister to mark an enquiry into the matter. The state government has pledged to give free medicines, then why did these medicines not reach the patients and expired lying in the storeroom?” said Dayalpura.

“Medicines are sanctioned according to the hospital’s demand. How did medicines in such large quantities remained unused?” questioned Dayalpura.

The hospital’s Senior Medical Officer Dr Tarakjot Singh said the hospital got 10 per cent more medicines than the demand and that dispersal was the duty of the pharmacy officer. “A committee was formed yesterday to have the expired medicines delivered to a biomedical waste plant. Enquiry will be conducted to ascertain responsibility,” he said.