VVCMC chief orders inquiry expired medicines at civic hospital

The VVCMC commissioner Manoj Kumar Suryavanshi has ordered an enquiry into the matter and promised that strict action will be taken against the culprits if the allegations are proved true

Mumbai: Several patients at the Sir DM Petit Hospital in Vasai Virar complained to the Vasai-Virar City Municipal Corporation (VVCMC) that they were given expired medicines. Once they alerted the civic body, corporators inspected the hospital and found several expired medicines. The VVCMC commissioner Manoj Kumar Suryavanshi has ordered an enquiry into the matter and promised that strict action will be taken against the culprits if the allegations are proved true.

VVCMC chief orders inquiry expired medicines at civic hospital

The expired medicines came to light on Friday when Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) corporators were informed of the matter by a few patients. When group leader Ashok Shelke, corporators Vishal Jadhav and Abhay Kakkar went to the hospital for an inspection following a tip off from some patients, they found medicines that had expired in 2020 and 2022. The expired medicines were stocked in the hospital’s store room and were being sold in the pharmacy too, Shelke said. “The pharmacy did not have any record of the medicines which included tablets for seizures and even sinus ailments,” he added.

While the chief medical officer of the VVCMC Dr Bhakti Chaudhary, was not reachable after the incident, doctors at the hospital tried to explain the situation by claiming that medicines remained viable even three months after the expiry date.

“The entire incident is serious and is a way of playing with the health of the citizens,” said leader of the opposition in the civic body, BJP leader Manoj Patil. He added that the hospital’s response to the matter was indignant.

Following the incident, BJP member of parliament from the Palghar constituency, Dr Hemant Savra, wrote to the VVCMC commissioner and the secretary of state health department that a proper investigation should be conducted. He questioned how such expired stocks could be available at the hospital and said that a probe should identify the hospital employee who had ordered the medicines, and whether they were used to treat any patients.

Savra also wrote that appropriate legal and disciplinary action should be taken against the relevant officers and employees found guilty in this case. He added that because of this case, all government and municipal hospitals in the VVCMC should be inspected for such negligence.

“VVCMC run clinics should be inspected and the expiry dates of stocked medicines should be checked. Since the matter is very serious, it is requested that appropriate action be taken immediately and a report of the action taken be submitted,” said Savra.

Commissioner’s assurance action

Meanwhile, as the civic officials had yet not acted upon the complaints of expired medicines, a BJP delegation met the VVCMC commissioner Manoj Kumar Suryavanshi to demand action. Suryavanshi then asked civic officials to inspect the hospital and six hours later additional commissioner Deepak Sawant and deputy commissioner Swati Deshpande went to the hospital in the evening and inspected it.

Suryavanshi has given an assurance that the concerned employees would be suspended and a departmental inquiry would be conducted against the officials found guilty of keeping and using the expired medicines.