The Manav Adhikar Surakhya Manch in its 77th Ghanta Yatra (cymbal rally) held here on Monday demanded that Health Minister Pratap Jena provide medicines and vaccines free of cost in the paediatrics department in the MKCG Medical College Hospital.
The Manch in a memorandum to Jena also demanded stringent action against the middlemen working in the hospital and providing medicines and vaccines at high costs to the needy people.
Manch coordinator Abani Kumar Gaya alleged that due to unavailability of vaccines of pneumonia, typhoid and Hepatitis-B in the hospital, thousands of attendants of small children have a tough time for finding the vaccines, for which they are forced to pay exorbitant prices for the same.
He also alleged that due to the high prices of medicines demanded by the middlemen, the attendants of the children are unable to afford it, for which many lives are lost.