Friday, March 29, 2019

Many medicines not available at GRH

MADURAI, MARCH 29, 2019 00:00 IST



Sick and tired:Patients coming to Government Rajaji Hospital make many trips to check availability of medicine.R_ASHOK

Steps being taken to ensure there is no shortage from April 1: Dean

Patients visiting Government Rajaji Hospital complain of non-availability of many medicines at the hospital dispensary.

According to a section of patients, not all the medicines prescribed by the doctors are given to them at the dispensary, raising concerns over lack of supply to the hospital and possibility of irregularities or leakage. K. Mangai, a 41-year-old woman from Periyakulam in Theni district, who underwent a cardiac surgery at the hospital more than a year before, said that she was denied one of the drugs for the past four months.

“Doctors say that I must take one-and-half tablets every day at 6 p.m and I carry the risk of developing blocks again in the blood supply to the heart otherwise,” she said, adding that she had been visiting GRH all the way from Periyakulam for the past four months in vain.

Ms. Mangai, a single mother of two children, who has stopped working at the textile mill after her surgery, said that she had to spend Rs. 700 every month to buy the medicine from pharmacies outside. “If I check at the government hospital in Theni, they ask me to go to GRH since I was operated here,” she said. Another elderly person from Karimedu, who preferred to remain anonymous, said that he faced similar problems. “I also underwent an open heart surgery at GRH. I argued with the personnel at the dispensary yesterday and raised the issue with the Resident Medical Officer as well on Wednesday. However, nothing much happened,” he said.

N. Sridhar, whose mother is treated at GRH as an outpatient for arthritis, said that every month she was denied at least three or four medicines. “The doctors prescribe seven to eight tablets for my mother. Some are to be taken daily and some once a week. However, we end up getting only four or five medicines every month,” he said. “When we argue with the staff at the dispensary, they say that they did not have adequate supply,” he added.

When contacted, a senior staff working at the dispensary denied allegations of irregularities. “The purchasing limit set for a day is grossly inadequate for the number of patients we handle at GRH,” he said.

Dean K. Vanitha said that steps were being taken to ensure from April 1 that there were no shortage of any medicines.

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