Hospitals in twin districts facing lack of medicine

Kundapur: This year, most of the government Primary Health Centres (PHC) in the undivided district were facing a lack of medicine since the January month and due to no re-supply of their requirements, they were compelled to procure medicine from private suppliers.

Generic drugs like antibiotics and medicine for diabetes and blood pressure are not available, neither is there any syrups prescribed to provide relief from cough, cold or to regain vitamins and strength. Medicine prescribed for mental illness is also empty. Rabies injection and anti-venom is also not available. Purchasing the same from private suppliers is expensive.

Presently, rabies injections are being procured from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Telangana and other states. Meanwhile, the doctors inform there is no lack of medicine for tuberculosis, leprosy, malaria, national programmes and medicine for women-children disease since it is manages through separate grants.

Scam

The contractors are not supplying the drugs properly. They supply the entire year’s requirement at the last two months of the year and provide the bill. In that too, most of the provided medicine will have crossed their expiry date and then there are instances where the contractor demands bribe to supply. Due to the scam and corruption between the contracting company and the government, the government drug manufacturing institution is presently fulfilling the requirement.

National fund

In the backdrop of the lack of medicine, Rs 50,000 is provided to every individual PHC through the National Free Drug Supply (NFDS). In this grant, priority should be given to medicine. If the amount is no enough, more can be procured from the health care fund. A single rabies injection costs Rs 250, but in the case where dozens of people have been bitten by dogs, the PHCs’ face a lack of funds.

Hundreds of patients

There are 2,206 PHCs in the state. A hospital in a region like Kundapur will be visited by 60 to 200 patients daily. PHCs are visited by 10 diabetes and 5 BP patients daily. Two tablets need to be given on a daily basis to all such patients respectively. The same is more than 400 at taluk hospitals. But now, it has become quite a challenge for the hospitals to provide the required medicines to the patients.

The government drug warehouse provides drugs worth Rs 3.4 crore to Wenlock Hospital, Rs 1 crore to Lady Goshen in Mangaluru and Rs 14 crore to the entire Dakshina Kannada district, while medicine worth Rs 2.5 crore is provided to the district hospital in Udupi and drugs worth Rs 8 crore is provided to the entire district. The demand and use of generic drugs in Kundapur taluk is more.

No problem

Some medicines are neither available with the government nor with private providers. If there is a need to purchase medicine, PHC and community health centres are provided with Rs 50,000 grant under NFDS. Rabies medicine and anti-venom has been stocked – Dr M G Rama, Udupi District Health Officer

If there is a lack of medicine, directions have been given to purchase the same locally through the funds provided by NHM and NFDS – Dr Ramakrishna Rao, DK District Health Officer

No District Drug Warehouse in Udupi district!

Medicine to PHCs is provided by the district drug warehouse. Although 22 years have passed since the formation of Udupi district, no district drug warehouse has yet been created in the district. The medicines for the undivided district is supplied from the district drug warehouse located near the district government Wenlock hospital in Mangaluru. Since 2016, the demand is being made online.