Govt must address medicine shortage in state hospitals: Health care workers

MUMBAI: Health care workers' unions and social organisations have planned to organise a statelevel campaign demanding the government to address the issue of massive shortage of essential medicines, vacancies and various demands of nurses, medical officers and pharmacists in the state. Members of the Jan Arogya Abhiyan said, “Apart from shortage of medicines, there is lack of health and staffing policy, a grossly inadequate health budget.” In a survey of six major district hospitals from Pune, Satara, Solapur, Beed, Osmanabad and Nagpur to assess the availability of 98 medicines and 34 consumables, surgical and other materials, it was found there 34 per cent of the hospitals had zero stock and 29 per cent had stocks that would only suffice for a week. “We had conducted a survey in Nov, which revealed the glaring shortage. If this issue is not resolved, we will protest at the residence of Shiv Sena chief Udhhav Thackeray, whose party holds the health department portfolio and the CM Devendra Fadnavis,” said Abhijit More, co-convener of the Jan

Arogya Abhiyaan. Radical changes need to be made in the drug procurement and distribution system in Maharashtra, in view of the massive and continued shortage of medicines in government hospitals and health centres, More said. Essential medicines that are usually not available in the clinical department of the hospital include — adrenaline, atropine and meropenem injections, Levoflox, Lilnezolide, Methylprednisolone, Lorazepam and Penzyl.