BMC doubles down on addressing shortage of medicines at hospitals

Three days after the state government announced a high-level inquiry into the procurement of medicines and equipment at the hospitals run by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), additional municipal commissioner Dr Sudhakar Shinde on Monday chaired a meeting of doctors, deans and matrons at the hospitals.

HT was the first to highlight the artificial shortage in supply of medicines by BMC’s central purchase department (CPD), forcing patients to buy medicines from outside.

At the meeting, doctors were assigned the responsibility to keep track of the medicine stock while nurses were asked to monitor the cleanliness, according to officials present at the meeting.

“Shinde asked us to prepare schedules of medicines. The clinical team will closely work with the hospital’s pharmacology department who will anchor the medicine requirement for the facility,” a senior doctor from one of the tertiary care hospitals said.

Earlier, the schedules of the medicine were divided into three tertiary care hospitals who would coordinate with the remaining hospitals and compile a list of medicines required and send it to CPD.

“Till now, the pharmacology department did not have much of a role to play. It will now closely work with the clinical team on the drug and other requirements for the department, reviewing the stock at regular intervals. The individual hospitals will prepare their lists and send them to the CPD,” another doctor said.

On May 10, HT reported on the artificial shortage of medicines at BMC-run hospitals which in turn forced patients to buy medicines, gloves, saline, medical dressing material etc. from outside. While contractors claimed the corporation’s CPD had not floated tenders for bulk purchase for three years, BMC officials said they opted for purchasing medicines locally to break the contractors’ monopoly.

However, when HT visited some of the hospitals, it found that relatives of patients were spending heavily on medicines. A CAG report titled ‘Public Health Infrastructure of Health Services in Maharashtra’ from 2019-20 to 2021-22 also stated that there was a delay in finalisation of the rate contract for different schedules of medicines for a period ranging from four months to 35 months.

After HT’s reports, BMC’s deputy municipal commissioner (public health), in a meeting on May 10, directed health officials, including hospital deans, to ensure that there was no shortfall of medicines and medical supplies at the facilities. Dr Shinde is also holding meetings with the CPD to streamline the purchase process.