Kerala's govt hospitals without medicines , CPC stops functioning -KGPA DHARNA IN SEPTEMBER Last Week

Kerala's govt hospitals without medicines , CPC stops functioning

Thursday, August 30, 2007 08:00 IST Vivek Narayanan, Chennai

Supplies of medicines for the Kerala government hospitals and pharmacies are in trouble as the state government is yet to set up the proposed corporation for purchase of medicines and other consumables. The Kerala government had earlier planned to start a corporation based on the Tamil Nadu model for the procurement of medicines. Though the government proposed this project with great interest, no steps have been taken by the concerned officials in this regard. At the same, functioning of the Central Purchasing Committee has also come to standstill. With CPC remaining inactive and delay in forming the corporation, purchases and supplies of medicines have come to a halt in the state, sources from the Kerala Government Pharmacists Association said. "Only local purchases of medicines are taking place now. Most of the important medicines are unavailable in the hospitals and government pharmacies. Such a negligent attitude would harm the people who come in for treatment. The government should resolve this issue as soon as possible" KGPA sources said. Meanwhile the several posts of superintendents are remaining vacant for a long time making matters worse. There are 33 vacancies to be filled as of now. The government has not been showing any interest in filling these vacancies. This will have a negative impact on the purchase of medicines as these staff members play a vital role in purchasing and supplying the medicines, said sources. To protest against this negligent attitude and demanding the government to resolve these issues at the earliest, the KGPA members will be staging a Dharna next month in front of the District Medical Office's in the State and in front of the Directorate of Health in Trivandrum. Around 3,000 members of the KGPA will take part in the dharna. A notice highlighting their demand will be given to the Chief Minister, Health Minister and Finance Minister