Cuttack: Lack of adequate drugs at Niramaya centres and government-affiliated drugstores has become a matter of concern for many patients at Sriram Chandra Bhanja Medical College and Hospital (SCBMCH) here, sources said.
Though the state government had announced to provide at least 500 varieties of drugs free of cost under the Niramaya scheme, the free drugstores at SCBMCH have the stock of only 200 to 250 types of drugs, sources said.
Even Niramaya stores at the premium healthcare institute do not have essential drugs like anti-rabies vaccine and anti-venom injection.
“Around 1,000 patients visit the Niramaya stores at the SCBMCH to get free drugs on daily basis. However, around 30 per cent patients are not getting all the prescribed drugs from the Niramaya outlets,” said a doctor of SCBMCH on conditions of anonymity.
The state government has opened four Niramaya outlets on the SCBMCH premises and tied up with four private drugstores to provide free drugs to the patients. However, patients are not getting all the prescribed drugs from the Niramaya centres and government-affiliated drugstores, sources said.
Recently, a person suffering from some dental diseases could not get the prescribed drugs from all four government-affiliated drugstores. Similarly, many patients at the cardiology, nephrology, neurosurgery and psychiatry departments of SCBMCH usually do not get all the prescribed drugs from the Niramaya outlets, sources added.
On the other hand, the hospital authorities have failed to clear bills to the tune of Rs 20 crore to the four government-affiliated drugstores. As a result, the druggists are facing difficulties to procure adequate drugs.
It is learnt that the druggists have written to SCBMCH superintendent and sought his intervention to clear the pending dues. “The hospital owes me Rs 7 crore. Besides, it has failed to clear bills to the tune of Rs 13 crore to the other three government-affiliated drugstores. We are facing problems to provide free drugs to patients,” said druggist Diptiranjan Mohanty.
SCBMCH superintendent CBK Mohanty said the state government has recently provided Rs 5 crore for the four drugstores. “We will soon distribute the money among the four government-affiliated drugstores,” Mohanty added.
Meanwhile, some social activists have alleged that patients are being forced to wait for hours to get drugs from Niramaya centres at the hospital. “One can find long queues at the four Niramaya outlets at SCBMCH every day. The state government should open more such centres at the hospital,” said a social activist.
Mohanty, however, said that they are planning to open more Niramaya stores on the hospital premises.
