Getting much-needed medicines an uphill task in rural areas
AGRA/PRAYAGRAJ/VARANASI : Villagers in some parts of UP have to travel several kilometres before they can get the medicines that are prescribed to them for the treatment of Covid-19 and its related complications though other drugs for fever and cold are often available at grocery stores.
This situation is especially true in the case of Agra in western UP and in Prayagraj in eastern UP.
Dataram Kushwaha, 62, resident of Holipura village in Agra, says, “We have to travel to Bhadroli about seven kilometres from our village for the medicines. And if it is not available at Bhadroli, we travel another 11 kilometres to the town to buy them.”
Ramu Sharma, a shopowner in Anwal Kheda, a suburban town 14 kilometres from Agra city, agrees that villagers come to his shop from about 10 to 15 kilometres away to purchase medicines that the doctors prescribe.
“There are other shops, too, in the town. Villagers come by cycles or other means to get them,” adds Sharma. Non-availability of medicines often paves the way for quacks to step in.
“Primary health centres don’t have all the medicines that are required and thus villagers have to rely on medical shops in Bah, Jarar, Bateshwar and Jaitpur,” says Bharat Sharma, a resident of Bah town in Agra.
In Prayagraj, people in villages like Sujani, Kotar Harbari, Bisaura, Renga and Kauhat and others in the trans-Yamuna area, too, need to cover vast distances to reach medical stores in search of medicines.
“Many medicines like Azithromycin, Doxycycline, Vitamin C tablets etc are unavailable in medical stores located at Jari,
Naribari, Laltara and Khiri, which is a major problem. We often have to get the medicines from Prayagraj city located almost 50 km from here,” says Vishnu Tiwari, resident of Kotar village in Prayagraj.
At Mauaima, a town area around 35 km from Prayagraj
city, one can get some medicines at the printed rate but not of one’s own choice or the one recommended by the doctor.
Most medical stores here are offering alternatives, claiming the drug salts to be the same as the one sought by the consumer, locals say. Away from Mauaima town area, there is a high demand for medicines at nearby medical stores such as Ivermectin, Azithromycin, Vitamin C, Paracetamol, Doxycycline— the usual medicines being prescribed by doctors to treat Covid-19 infected patients.
When asked, almost all medical stores’ proprietors and chemists say the wholesale suppliers are not giving medicines according to their demand and so they are finding it tough to make the medicines available to the people. Paracetamol, Vitamin C, Azithromycin are not available in some places while in others the chemists are agreeing to give only four tablets of paracetamol when 10 are sought, says Mohd Akhtar, a resident of Mauaima gram panchayat area.
Though medicines are available at bigger chemist shops in Phulpur tehsil, also 35 km from Sangam city in the trans-Ganga area of Prayagraj, one has to stand in long queues, especially during the morning and evening.
Some locals like Radhey Lal of Akdala village allege that some of the medical store owners are overcharging for medicines.
Prayagraj district magistrate Bhanu Chandra Goswami says that supply of all essential items, including medicines, is being ensured.
“No shortage will be allowed to occur,” he adds.
On the other hand, in Sonbhadra district, social worker Jagat Vishwakarma, a resident of Faripan area, says ailing people who visit the community health centre (CHC) in Myorpur block of Sonbhadra are given medicines.
Dr Ashish Srivastava, medical superintendent of Myorpur CHC, says, “The patients, who come to the CHC for treatment, are attended and medicines are given to them as per need. We have a sufficient stock of medicines for common diseases and those which are given to the people having symptoms of Covid.”