No supplier, child PGI pharmacy out of medicine stock

NOIDA: The

child PGI

is reeling from a shortage of medicines as many tablets and syrups prescribed by doctors aren’t available in the pharmacy in the absence of a tendering process to identify a full-time

supplier

.

Common syrups and drops prescribed by doctors for children, such as Calpol, Amoxiclav and Digene, too, have gone out of stock and patients are being forced to buy them from private pharmacies nearby. Relatives of patients said they do not get most of the medicines that doctors prescribe.

Ravikant Shukla, who came to the super-speciality paediatric hospital and post graduate teaching institute (SSPHPGTI) for the treatment of his one-year-old son, said: “I have a five-year-old daughter and a one-year-old son. I have been taking advice from doctors here. However, most of the times, I have been forced to take medicines from outside,” he said.

His son Atharv, who is suffering from pneumonia, was prescribed drops and syrups but when Shukla went to the pharmacy to enquire about the availability of medicines, he was told that none of the syrups and drops was available.

Patients suffering from cancer, too, are forced to buy medicines from outside instead of the institute’s pharmacy, from where they can get medicines at a slightly discounted rate.

Vinod Kumar, father of 10-year-old Pradeep who has been admitted to the child

PGI

for treatment of T-cell Lymphoma, said he had been spending about Rs 500 every week on his son’s medicines, injections, etc. “A few of the medicines are available at the institute, but most of them have to be bought from outside,” he said.

Although the institute has been functional for six years, it is yet to start its own tendering process for procurement of medicines and is dependent on supply from companies that provide medicines to the

Sanjay Gandhi

PGI, Lucknow.

An official said SSPHPGTI had been unable to start its own tender process through the hospital revolving fund (HRF) despite a proposal for being ready with the department.

Dr Shekhar Yadav, medical superintendent, SSPHPGTI, said the tender process will begin soon.


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