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Punjab chief secretary conducts surprise check at Mohali’s civil hospital
In case, a patient is unable to get the medicines prescribed by the doctor, they should immediately get in touch with the SMO or DC concerned, the Punjab chief secretary said
To make sure that patients are being given medicines free of cost, Punjab chief secretary Anurag Verma carried out a surprise inspection at the civil hospital in Phase 6 on Friday.
The chief secretary spoke to patients emerging from the hospital and asked whether they had received medicines free of cost, and the patients confirmed the same.
On the availability of prescribed medications at government hospitals, Verma said, “An essential drug list comprising 276 medicines had been prepared by the health department, of which rate contracts have been prepared for 90% of the items. For the remaining medicines being prescribed by government doctors, senior medical officers will purchase the medicines from the market and provide them to the patients so that patients do not have to spend anything from their pocket.”
“Chief minister Bhagwant Mann has approved ₹25 crore for the same. The financial powers of the senior medical officer has been increased from ₹25,000 to ₹2.50 lakh to enable them to purchase these medicines,” he added.
The chief secretary said that there are 23 district hospitals, 41 sub-divisional hospitals and 161 community health centres in the state and the system has been put in place in all the hospitals. He added that as per his directions all deputy commissioners in Punjab had conducted an inspection at district hospitals to ensure implementation of the decisions.
In case, a patient is unable to get the medicines prescribed by the doctor, they should immediately get in touch with the SMO or DC concerned. In addition, the matter may be reported at Helpline No 1100, he added.
The chief secretary was accompanied by principal secretary, health, Ajoy Sharma and Punjab Health System Corporation managing director Varinder Kumar Sharma.
