KARACHI:Sindh government-run hospitals have been facing acute shortage of life-saving drugs and disposal surgical items for five months due to negligence of Sindh Health Department.
Patients in Sindh’s hospitals, including Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK), Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), Sindh Government Lyari General Hospital, Sindh Government Hospital Liaquatabad, National Institute of Child Health (NICH) and others, are often asked by doctors to purchase medicines from their own pocket.
The procurement process of life-saving medicines, surgical and disposable items, X-rays films, chemical and allied items through centralized system of drug procurement is not completed as yet despite the passage of five months of fiscal year 2019-20, owing to bureaucratic hurdles and commission mafia influence.
The health facilities of Hyderabad, Larkana, Sukkur, Mirpurkhas, Shaheed Benazirabad and other cities are also facing shortage of life-saving drugs and other items. Many crucial medicines for patients, who are suffering from chronic diseases, are also not available in majority of government sector hospitals.
The Sindh Health Department had introduced centralised procurement system in 2014-15 to purchase life-saving drugs for all the hospitals in order to control corruption and other irregularities in purchasing medicines. Since then, about 85 per cent medicines for all the public hospitals in Sindh are being procured through a centralised system, while remaining 15 per cent through local-purchase system.
The complicated procurements process has put lives of many poor patients at stake across the Sindh province as supply of medicines to public sector hospitals has not started yet despite passage of almost five months. Presently, almost all major government hospitals of Sindh are facing acute shortage of life-saving drugs and surgical items.
An administrative official at JPMC told PPI that a tender for procurement of medicines and surgical items through central procurement system should have been issued in June or July to avoid a crisis-like situation. The Sindh’s hospitals face this sad situation every year due to complicated and lengthy procedure of medicine purchase.
He further informed that provision of drugs and surgical items to OPDs and emergencies patients on daily basis had become even more difficult for administration.