Medicine, staff crunch at PGI’s Jan Aushadhi store

Sandeep Rana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 20

Patients at the new PGI OPD are facing a tough time due to the unavailability of a number of generic medicines at the Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Kendra. The staff crunch at the store, too, has added to patients’ woes as only or two persons cater to a large number of visitors at times.

In comparison to it, the adjoining private medical store has around 10 staff members to give medicines to patients or their attendants. The private centre issues tokens and shows the number on screens installed there.

During a visit to the centre on Monday, a large number of patients were seen yelling at the staff. There was only one woman, who was giving medicines to customers while the other was collecting money at the cash counter.

“I am waiting for my turn for the past 20 minutes and I do not how long it would take. They have no system in place to tackle the rush of patients,” said Radhey Shyam, a patient.

“Please tell me when my name is announced,” an anxious elderly woman, Kamalpreet Kaur, was seen requesting the crowd.

Beant Kamboj, an executive member of the PGI Employees’ Union, alleged, “The main issue is the unavailability of generic medicines. We feel that it is being done deliberately in connivance with private players. The PGI authorities have failed to close down all private medical shops on the campus and buy medicines in bulk and sell these to patients at lower rates. This measure was proposed by the union.”

Sachin Kumar, CEO of the Jan Aushadhi store, said, “We have three staff members. Sometimes, one of them takes leave. We will hire two more persons. There is a gap between the demand and supply of medicines due to holidays. Sometimes, some combinations of medicines are not available. We have started the process to procure more medicines. We will soon raise the number of available medicines at the centre from 750 to 1,000.”

Speaking on the issue, the official spokesperson of the PGI, Chandigarh, Manju Wadwalkar, said, “We will have our own pharmacy in near future.”