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Chandigarh: Now, PGIMER’s surgical store to remain open round the clock
Items for the surgical store are purchased in bulk by the hospital administration and provided for free to the beneficiaries of Ayushman Bharat Scheme and hospital’s poor patient welfare scheme, apart from the PGIMER staff undergoing treatment
The surgical store at PGIMER that provides free surgical items to eligible beneficiaries will now remain open round the clock, through the week.
Items for the store are purchased in bulk by the hospital administration and provided for free to the beneficiaries of Ayushman Bharat Scheme and hospital’s poor patient welfare scheme, apart from the PGIMER staff undergoing treatment.
The store houses majority of surgical items, including implants, syringes, gloves, cannula, masks, sutures, spirometer, nebulisers, lumbo sacral belt, knee caps and medicines, along with other important medical items.
However, due to shortage of store keepers, the surgical store used to close at 5 pm from Monday to Friday and at 2 pm on Saturday, forcing beneficiaries to purchase the surgical items from the AMRIT pharmacy or private chemists at much higher rates.
“Though the hospital administration reimburses the amount paid by the beneficiaries to purchase the items from AMRIT or private pharmacies, it translated into huge loss for the institute that gets the items at cheaper bulk rates. Patients visiting the emergency wings were most harassed, as they were forced to purchase medicines, including the life-saving drugs, at much higher costs and then wait for reimbursement from the hospital,” said Ashwani Kumar Munjal, general secretary of PGI Employees Union (Non-Faculty).
He added that it was a long-pending demand of the union to keep the surgical store open 24x7 so that the hospital did not have to pay more for the items through reimbursements and to avoid harassment to patients and their attendants.
PGIMER director Dr Vivek Lal said, “In the review meetings, the union had raised concern over closure of the surgical store in the evening. PGIMER is now hiring more store keepers and the store will remain open for 24 hours from January 16.”
