Jamshedpur : There is an acute shortage of medicines in government hospital, the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College and Hospital. The hospital is running out of stock of medicines including life saving drugs.
Most patients from across the district, especially those reaching the hospital at night, find the in-house pharmacy poorly equipped, which forces them to go looking for medicines.
In fact, a highly placed source in the hospital said that medicines, including life-saving anti-venom and anti-rabies injections, regularly run out of stock. Other commonly used medicines for controlling diabetes and hypertension such as Metformin and Atenolol, and Nisidipine respectively and even B-complex tablets and antibiotics are also in short supply.
Patients are the worst sufferers as they are forced to buy medicines from local market. While a small section of patients can only afford to buy medicines from outside while majority of them are languishing in different wards of the hospital, virtually without medicines.
The crisis of medicines began last week but for the last couple of days the problem has become acute.
The inadequacy of medicine stocks in government hospital has compelled people to buy medicines from privately owned pharmacies which at times sell the most expensive variety of medicines instead of those which are low cost yet equally effective.
A large number of patients bought medicines from private sources, non-availability of drugs in public hospital is not uncommon, and there was insistence by doctors to buy drugs from outside.
Nagesh Tudu a patient who hails from a poor background had come from Bhuiyandih was admitted to the hospital three-days back with symptoms of typhoid. ” Due to lack of medicines at the hospital I was compelled to get medicines from outside for last two days.� Ravi Kumar was rushed to MGM Medical College and Hospital emergency following snake-bite from Rajnagar block in adjoining Seraikela-Kharsawan district.
The victim was taken to the medical college hospital by covering a distance over 35 kilometres with the hope that he would get the necessary treatment there, but there was no stock of anti-venom drugs in the hospital.
The victim’s elder brother said that soon after the snake bit Ravi, he screamed in pain and fear, and had lost his consciousness. He said the fellow villagers had immediately found out the snake and killed it and subsequently rushed the victim to a snake-charmer, who administered some traditional treatment to the youth.
Similarly, another snake-bite, Niral Purty was rushed to the medical college hospital with the complaint of snake-bite, but on reaching here the victim had to languish on the bed without the mandatory anti-venom as the drug has run shot.
Though the medical college hospital is getting an increasing number of patients of snake-bite complaints, but there is no stock of the anti-venom at the hospital. As a result of which the patients’ keens have to buy the medicine from the market themselves.
Authorities of the government medical college and hospital admitted that there is an acute crisis of medicines. They said that as an arrangement they have decided to buy medicines from market through quotations.