Free treatment claim rang hollow as medicines ran short in Rewa hospitals, poor patients relied on market
Patients and families said free medicines were unavailable at government hospitals in Rewa and they had to buy from outside; hospital heads cited supply delays and Congress attacked the government.
The state’s health system was once again under question. The government released crores of rupees in budget for health services every year and announced “free treatment and medicines” from platforms, but the picture on the ground was the opposite. Free medicines were not available to patients at several government hospitals, including at the district headquarters Rewa.
Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital
No medicines in hospital, buy from the market
Patients who came for treatment and their families said doctors wrote prescriptions but the medicines were not available at the hospital pharmacy. They were forced to buy expensive medicines from outside shops. Many patients had also had to get injections and essential tests done at private shops and labs.
A poor patient’s relative said angrily: “The doctor gives a prescription but the medicine is not available in the hospital. Buy it from outside or leave the treatment and go home. How do we poor people get children and elderly treated?”
Delays in treatment, even deaths
Treatment was delayed when essential medicines and resources were not available in hospitals. At times, for lack of money, poor patients could not buy medicines and their condition became serious. Families said that in some cases patients had even died.
Question: where was the crores of rupees in budget going?
The health department claimed to spend crores every year, and funds were sanctioned in the name of schemes. Yet when patients did not even get free medicines in hospitals, the big question was where this budget was going. Was it confined only to paper and files?
Health services in a poor state in the Deputy CM’s own area
The most serious question was that these conditions were in the area from which the state’s health minister and Deputy Chief Minister Rajendra Shukla was MLA. If health services were in such a poor state in Rewa, his own constituency, what must the situation have been in other districts of the state? It had become a pressing question.
When hospital management was asked about this
Rahul Mishra, Superintendent, Sanjay Gandhi Hospital
Rahul Mishra, Superintendent of Sanjay Gandhi Hospital, said efforts to provide patients with better treatment and medicines were continuing. Some medicines were occasionally in short supply, and efforts were on to remove the shortage soon.
Akshay Srivastava, Superintendent, Super Speciality Hospital Rewa
Akshay Srivastava, Superintendent of Super Speciality Hospital Rewa, clarified that medicines were supplied by the Medical Corporation and stock sometimes arrived late. He said they did not favour sending patients back without medicines and were constantly trying to improve the system.
Congress attacks
Congress state spokesperson Vinod Sharma
Congress state spokesperson Vinod Sharma said the BJP government was practising only the politics of announcements and show. If medicines were missing from hospitals in the Deputy CM’s home area, one could imagine the situation in other parts of the state, he said. He said this government had proved itself completely anti-people.
