Though the Punjab Health Systems Corporation’s (PHSC) have directed all civil surgeons to arrange their procurement at their own level for one month in order to ensure uninterrupted availability of essential medicines at government health facilities, the arrangement is likely to fail owing to the cash strapped at district level.
The PHSC, the state’s nodal agency for medicine procurement, said, in its communique, seen by HT, that due to “unforeseen reasons”, it was unable to procure some of the medicines listed under the essential drug list (EDL) for Punjab drugs for the time being.
Consequent upon the inability to procure PHSC has directed the civil surgeons to procure the medicines mentioned in the attached EDL list locally for a period of one month. The move, according to the PHSC, is aimed at ensuring timely availability of essential medicines and facilitating quality and uninterrupted healthcare services to patients.
Pleading anonymity the health officials, however, said that several hospitals and health facilities were already facing a shortage of funds to procure medicines on their own.
It is worth mentioning that the health department had to suspend the senior medical officer and transfer the hospital’s pathologist at Nangal Civil Hospital following complaints of shortages of essential medical supplies.
{{/usCountry}}It is worth mentioning that the health department had to suspend the senior medical officer and transfer the hospital’s pathologist at Nangal Civil Hospital following complaints of shortages of essential medical supplies.
{{/usCountry}}The latest PHSC list contains 36 medicines and medical products, covering a range of therapeutic requirements. These include lithium carbonate, mefenamic acid, carbamazepine, duloxetine, mifepristone, levosalbutamol, prednisolone, levodopa-carbidopa, insulin, pregabalin, sodium valproate, diltiazem, digoxin, telmisartan-hydrochlorothiazide, levetiracetam, olanzapine, misoprostol and ursodeoxycholic acid. It also includes sterile water for injection, dental material and a LABA+ICS inhaler combination.
The order effectively puts the onus on district health authorities to bridge the short-term procurement gap until the PHSC is able to resume supply of the affected medicines.
Officials said the local procurement was intended as a temporary arrangement to prevent shortages from affecting patient care, but the availability of adequate funds with individual hospitals and districts remains a concern.