Mayurbhanj (Odisha) [India], August 26 (ANI): Large quantities of expired medicines, worth crores of rupees, were dumped into a river near the Mayurbhanj District Headquarters Hospital (DHH) in Odisha, with the waste including antibiotics, masks, syringes, testing kits and other essential medicines.
Mayurbhanj Additional District Magistrate (ADM) Netrananda Mallick said, “…DM conducted a meeting with all medical officers in the Collectorate and instructed all the officials to focus on rural health, basically the tribal people living in this district.”
He added, “If the matter is true, then I will intimate the District Magistrate, and we will conduct an inquiry, and action will be taken as per the provisions of law. There is no escape.”
Meanwhile, Social activist Sanjeev Rout questioned the functioning of the health department and the procurement and distribution of medicines at the hospital, saying such incidents had happened earlier as well.
Rout said, “This is not the first time this has happened; it keeps happening from time to time. To be honest, we cannot understand how the department is functioning. What we do understand is that in the government system, patients who are admitted indoors are provided with government medicine, which is a good thing, and people at the government level receive help so that they can use medicine for treatment.”
He questioned why such a large quantity of medicines was left unused despite the government having records of patient numbers and medicine requirements, saying, “However, the sad part is that at the District Headquarters Hospital of Mayurbhanj district, they seem to have a record of how many patients come to this hospital every year, which departments people are admitted into, and what the overall picture is.”
Rout said, “From what I understand, medicines arriving in the medical sector mean a procurement order is given at the government level to that department stating that this department or these types of medicines are needed in a certain quantity. So, if the medicine arrived according to the requirements, why did this medicine remain left over, and why was a huge quantity–I cannot specify the exact number of lakhs, but a very large amount–thrown away?”
He also questioned the procurement process, saying, “The question arises, does the government buy medicines and send them to hospitals, or is there some other institution or person between the government and the hospital who buys and supplies the medicine? Another question that arises is whether the hospital management has any record of how many saline bottles, needles, or antibiotics they need.” (ANI)
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