Expired medicines found at tribal hospital

PALAKKAD: Health Department vigilance wing has found that there were medicines worth Rs 25 lakh which had completed its expiry date and were kept at the Kottathara Tribal Speciality Hospital in Attappadi without being properly accounted."The expired medicines have been stocked in seven rooms. There was no post of a pharmacist at the hospital to account for the medicines as it arrived. The doctors are already burdened with enough work and it was difficult for them to do the accounting also,” additional director of Health Services (Vigilance) Dr Ramani, who was in Attappadi for the last two days, told Express.She said that we have asked the District Medical Officer (DMO) to conduct the stock verification and submit the details within a week so that the real value of the stocks can be computed. The 100-bed tribal hospital in Kottathara was set up with much fanfare. In short, the hospital did not have enough doctors or technicians. Now, there are only four doctors. Though there are posts for six specialist doctors, at present, there is only one specialist doctor.“The medicines were found to have expired long ago but they were not disposed of. Since all the medicines were not accounted and filed properly, the papers regarding the indents placed and their purchase were being located,” hospital superintendent in-charge Dr Prajeesh said.When asked about the lack of a pharmacist at the hospital, sources said that if there was a post, the District Medical Officer could appoint but when there was no post it required the sanction of the Finance Department.“We will send a six-member team to the Kottathara Hospital to conduct the stock verification from Monday. The team will stay there for more than a week and complete the stock verification process. Another team will be sent to inspect the documents in the office. The hospital needs to put on the right track,” DMO Venugopal said.He pointed out that in the first place it needs to be found out as to who was responsible for placing such a large indent for medicines which resulted in the wastage. It is estimated that medicines which were five times more than the need was indented by the hospital. There were only 200 outpatients a day at the hospital.Venugopal pointed out that there was the need for a pharmacist, store superintendent and storekeeper. Moreover, the expired medicines need to be moved out and scientifically disposed of.The bio-medical waste processing plant of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) known as IMAGE at Kanjikode will be able to dispose of these wastes.The Kottathara Tribal Speciality Hospital had no gynaecologist. Sources at the hospital said that if a gynaecologist was posted, the number of outpatient cases would have increased significantly.When Dr Prabhudas was the superintendent of the hospital, there were over 500 and more outpatients daily at the hospital.In fact, the hospitals in the whole of Attappadi had no gynaecologists. The tribal speciality hospital in Kottathara was built at a cost of `5 crore allotted from the Central Tribal Development Fund.It was inaugurated on August 21, 2007, by the then Health Minister P K Sreemathi.However, the enthusiasm found among politicians in the construction of the hospital was not found in ensuring the smooth functioning of the hospital by appointing necessary doctors and paramedical staff.