It appears that the doctors of Doon Hospital, which is the biggest Government hospital of the State, are determined to sabotage the free medicine scheme of the State Government. The Uttarakhand Government started this scheme amid much fanfare on October 30 last year and proudly lists it as one of its major achievement.
The doctors of the hospital are bounded to prescribe the medicines available in the hospital but in practice they are openly prescribing the medicines which the patients have to purchase from outside. On Wednesday this correspondent spent considerable time outside the free medicine distribution counters and was shocked to see that the doctors are prescribing 50-60 percent medicines which the patients have to purchase from outside. Interestingly the prescription slips showed that doctors are writing the cosmetic creams, combination drugs, tonics and in gross violation of the norms are prescribing the medicines with their brand names.
Santosh Kumari of Patelnagar who was standing in a long queue at the medicine counter said that she visited the physician as she was suffering from the fever but she got only two medicines from the hospital out of the three prescribed. A frustrated Sabeel Ahmed of Inder Road, Dalanwala told this correspondent that the orthopedic doctor he visited prescribed three medicines all of which he had to purchase from outside. Kamla Rawat of Sahaspur said that she was able to get only one medicine from the hospital’s medicine counter after standing in queue for more than one hour. “We have to wait for hours together at the registration, OPD and medicine counters of the hospital but when we are told that we have to purchase medicine from outside then it is better that the government stops this scheme of free medicines”, she said.
This correspondent is in possession of some prescriptions wherein the doctors have prescribed calcium tablets of a particular company or written combination drugs although the hospital has plentiful supply of the calcium tablets and the individual constituents of these drugs. The pharmacist posted at the free medicine counter OP Maurya said that they have plentiful supplies of the medicine and 128 types of medicines and injections are available in the hospital.
The Principal Medical Superintendent (PMS) of Doon hospital Dr RS Aswal said that all types of the medicines are available in the hospital. On the question of doctors prescribing the branded medicines he said that this practice is wrong and would be prevented. He however added that the more than 4500 people visit the hospital daily and it is impossible for him to personally check every prescription.