Lack of budget allocations to healthcare centres including hospitals being run under Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) has compelled the poor patients to purchase expensive medicines from private medical stores, Business Recorder has learnt.
A visit to various hospitals revealed that patients visiting these public health facilities have been asked to buy prescribed medicines from the private medical stores while pilferage of medicines have led the patients to suffer ultimately.
Sources said that more than 250 health centres including hospitals, maternity homes and dispensaries being run under Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) have not been provided budget for last six to ten months. Patients visiting Spencer Eye Hospital, Karachi Institute of Hearth Diseases, Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, and Guzdarabad Hospital, Urban Health Centre, Children Hospital North Nazimabad Sobhraj Maternity Home and other dispensaries established in various parts of city have to purchase medicines from private medical stores.
Mohammed Salahuddin, suffering from diabetes, said that he has been visiting hospital pharmacy for last five days but could not get medicine prescribed by the doctor of the facility. "Whenever I approached pharmacist after waiting for hours in queues for getting prescribed medicine, he asked me to come very next day. I could not manage to acquire medicines despite passing five days", anguished Salahuddin said.
Sources said that since the re-promulgation of Sindh Local Ordinance System (SLGO) 1979 budgetary allocations to hospitals and other healthcare centres have not been made due to which administrations of the facilities failed to procure essential medicines.
Patients at Abbasi Shaheed Hospital (ASH), major public sector hospital for the city, where more than 600 outdoor patients reported daily also run-short of medicines. Patients visiting ASH complained that they have been asked to buy medicines from private medical stores.
How a poor patient buy such an expensive medicine, a patient question, saying that a poor man only visit government hospital while the well-off used to opt private hospitals for their treatment. OPD patients at Karachi Institute of Heart Diseases are also on receiving end as they failed to get some essential medicines from the facility. Sources in Spencer Eye Hospital told this scribe that eye operations of patients used to be cancelled due to lack of proper medication facilities.
Patients have been asked to wait for many days get their eyes operated, they added. Pregnant patients at Sobhraj Maternity Home have been asked to bring medicines from private drug stores. The situation turned more aggravated as pilferage of available medicines has become the lucrative sources of income for the employees of these hospitals.
Sources said patients were supplied only cheap medicines; however, they were asked to buy costly injections, capsules and tablets from the private stores. They said the administrations of these hospitals were fully aware about the issue but they did not pay any heed to the problem due to their own vested interests. They said mostly paramedics including dispensers; technicians and storekeepers are involved in the theft of medicines.
However, in some cases doctors were also found involved in this crime, they added. It was also learnt that the majority of paramedical staff, especially dispensers, runs their own private medical stores and sell the stolen drugs on discount. Sources said mostly those paramedics were involved in this crime who they have support of various political parties.
They said the staff, who were involved in corruption, shows entry of provision of medicines to patients in the hospital register. They said such paramedics often ask patients to buy the prescribed drugs from private medical stores, as the medicines were not available at the hospital.
They said many NGOs and philanthropists donate life-saving medicines in bulk to the emergency wards of the government but such drugs are also sold in open market by the corrupt hospital staff. In this regard when contacted Senior Director Medical Services, Dr Nasir Jawaid Shaikh, he said that he is well-informed of the shortage of medicines in hospital.
He said that Distribution and Drawing Officer for Health (DDO) after the promulgation of SLGO 1979 is yet to be appointed by Sindh government due to which funds allocations system is came to halt. He claimed that all problems being faced in hospitals would be solved soon.
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