Expired medicines: Directorate issues show cause notice to children’s hospital

NOIDA: Taking serious note of under utilisation of different medicines worth over ₹8 lakh, the state directorate of medical education and training has issued a show

NOIDA: Taking serious note of under utilisation of different medicines worth over ₹8 lakh, the state directorate of medical education and training has issued a show cause notice to the authorities of Super Specialty Paediatric Hospital and Post Graduate Teaching Institute (SSPHPGTI), commonly known as Child PGI. During the recent audit of child PGI by comptroller and auditor general of India (CAG), in November 2019, it was revealed that 85 different medicines worth ₹8.2 lakh remained unused at the Child PGI and subsequently crossed their dates of expiry.

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Uttar Pradesh director general of medical education, Dr KK Gupta, said based on the audit reports of the CAG, the directorate has issued a show cause notice to Child PGI’s director. “During the audit of medicines procured between 2015 and 2019, it was found that nearly 85 medicines, including tablets, injections and syrups, became expired and still remained in the Child PGI’s pharmaceutical store. I have asked the Child PGI director to explain the reason for purchasing such a huge amount of medicines, without making a proper requisition,” he said.

The director general further informed that expired medicines, which could not be distributed among patients, include esmolol, calcium tablets, vitamin B complex tablets, chloroquine tablets, lignocaine and filgrastim. “While filgrastim is a medication used to treat low neutrophil count in HIV/AIDS patients, lignocaine is a medication used to numb tissue in a specific area. It is also used to treat ventricular tachycardia and to perform nerve blocks. Similarly, esmolol is an important antiarrhythmic. It is really shocking that such important medicines were wasted,” he said.

The director general has also asked the Child PGI director to give the details of action taken in case of expired medicines and point out the dates on which the physical verification and stock comparison of these medicines were done.

When contacted, director Dr DK Gupta said that most of the medicines were supplied in just a few months before their dates of expiry. “We will soon send our reply to the director general,” he said.

It may be noted that the directorate had issued a similar notice to Child PGI in December last year in the same case.