E-Paper
Mohali OOAT centre: 23k tablets missing, drug issued to dead patient, shows report
An inquiry report pertaining to the Outpatient Opioid Assisted Treatment (OOAT) centre at a community health centre (CHC) in Mohali has pointed to a number of anomalies, such as “missing” buprenorphine tablets in bulk, increased daily dose for addicts “without doctor’s approval” and even “disbursement of drugs to a deceased patient”
An inquiry report pertaining to the Outpatient Opioid Assisted Treatment (OOAT) centre at a community health centre (CHC) in Mohali has pointed to a number of anomalies, such as “missing” buprenorphine tablets in bulk, increased daily dose for addicts “without doctor’s approval” and even “disbursement of drugs to a deceased patient”. Submitted by the Mohali deputy medical commissioner to the civil surgeon last month, the report came days after a four-member committee inspected the OOAT clinic in the Dhakoli CHC on December 17, 2024.
The inquiry report, accessed by Hindustan Times, revealed that there were discrepancies in the medicine stock register wherein around 23,559 tablets were missing. The committee report mentioned that some staff members of the OOAT clinic were selling drugs to the patients at ₹200 per 10 tablets despite the fact that medicines have to be given free of cost. The drugs were being sold to addicts without keeping record, the report stated.
The committee also found out that the daily dose of addicts was enhanced by staff members without doctor’s approval. Besides, the committee pointed out that staff of OOAT clinic had been taking signatures of drug addicts on the dose disbursement register for the entire month in advance, thereby making way for possible misuse of drugs. The committee observed that there was also a mismatch in the number of tablets disbursed to the patients and online records.
“The online record showed that patients were given four or five doses daily while physical record indicated that only 2-3 tablets were given,” reads the report. Soon after the inspection, the Dhakoli CHC’s senior medical officer (SMO) is said to have randomly called registered patients and “found discrepancies”. This inspection report also mentioned that a patient, Mukhtiar, died on September 24 but the online record showed medicines were issued on his name even later.
The report further states that in response to the missing tablets, the SMO replied to the committee on January 7 that there were two entries of the same source of medicine supply, “thus there were no missing tablets”. The inquiry report concluded that there was a mismatch between physical, online and dispensed medicine records, therefore, “disciplinary action should be taken against the staff nurse and the data entry operator” of the OOAT clinic.
Mohali civil surgeon, Dr Sangeet Jain, when asked about the report, said, “I have forwarded it to the director health services for further action.”
Dr Hitinder Kaur, director, Punjab health department, said, “I will look if any action has been taken on the report.”
Kumar Rahul, principal secretary, health, did not respond to the calls and messages.
