Hospitals directed to ensure free medicine availability

Punjab health department mandates civil surgeons to ensure patients receive prescribed medicines and display complaint numbers at healthcare centres.

The Punjab health department on Monday directed the civil surgeons to ensure that the patients visiting the government healthcare centres receive all the medicines prescribed by the doctors therein.

A view of Govt Rajindra Hospital in Patiala.

Besides, the health facilities have been instructed to display at least two flex boards prominently, highlighting the toll-free number (7347200994) where patients can lodge complaint in case a doctor prescribes a medicine which is not available in the hospital pharmacy.

Dr Anil Goyal, director of the Punjab Health Systems Corporation (PHSC), said, “The idea is to ensure that the patients get free medicines at the hospital pharmacies.”

When asked about specialists prescribing medicines which are not listed on the government’s approved drug list, Dr Goyal added, “If specialists believe a particular medicine yields better results, the respective centre (locally) can purchase the same at their level. All essential medicines will be available for free at the health centres.”

There have been allegations from patients that specialists frequently prescribe medicines that are unavailable at the hospital pharmacies, forcing them to buy the same from private outlets. As a result, private medicine shops have been proliferating outside the government-run health facilities across the state.