Non-availability of medicines mars healthcare in Jammu

Dinesh Manhotra 
Tribune News Service 
Jammu, May 22

With health services in all institutions of Jammu province, including premier Government Medical College (GMC), virtually collapsing due to non-availability of drugs, some forces are taking undue advantage of the prevailing chaotic situation.

There is chaos in almost all hospitals and health centres due the to non-availability of medicines and other drugs.

On Sunday evening, doctors of the GMC were forced to go on an indefinite strike to lodge their protest against the non-availability of medicines and items such as cotton and bandages.

Although Atul Dullu, principal secretary, Health and Medical Education, expressed his ignorance about the prevailing mess in the health institutes of Jammu province, Shiv Kumar Gupta, managing director, Jammu and Kashmir Medical Supply Corporation, assured that the problem would be resolved soon.

“I am not aware of the shortage of drugs and other items in hospitals,” Dullu told The Tribune. He said the principal of the medical college was the right person to reply to the queries.

Gupta, on the other hand, admitted there was a shortage of drugs in some hospitals. “It is a continuous process. It will take us some time to supply all medicines to hospitals and health centres,” he said.

He said the authorities were engaged in checking the quality of some drugs already supplied to the corporation before supplying the same to hospitals.

Highly placed sources said the chaos regarding the shortage of medicine in health institutes was created as part of a larger game plan to purchase drugs without tenders, so as to earn a huge commission from local suppliers. “As per the set procedures, the departments concerned have to give their requisitions by the end of December every year so that supplies can be made to all hospitals in the first week of April by going through tendering and quality check,” said the sources, maintaining, “Most of the time, the requisitions are reached by the end of February and every year, such chaos regarding shortage of drugs is created in April and May so as to force the higher-ups to direct officers to purchase drugs locally.”

Every year, some officials in the health department take undue advantage of this chaos by forcing the authorities to allow them to purchase drugs from the open market without following the set tendering process, they said.