KEM reels under shortage of medicines

Mumbai: Mumbai based King Edward Memorial Hospital, one of the biggest civic run hospital in the region, is reported to be facing irregular availability of some life-saving drugs, along with an acute shortage of amenities like gloves, cotton among others due to a delay in supplying medicines by the civic body, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). 

As per a media report in the Indian Express, the hospital has been managing for the last two months by sourcing the medicines locally, in spite of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) assuring them that the crisis would end in a few days.   

The shortage of drugs in KEM Hospital, Parel, is not acute or perennial, said senior BMC officials on Saturday.

However, steps are being taken to improve the stocks and increase the local purchase capacity, they added.

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There are around 7 lakh patients in the Out-Patient Department annually, and around 90,000 patients are admitted to the hospital for treatment on a yearly basis. For instance, in the year 2019, 24,413 major and 35,146 minor surgeries were performed at the hospital. 

Considering such a huge inflow of patients, the hospital has been facing an irregular supply of emergency medicines that are used for the treatment of patients with cardiac arrest and trauma, in the last two months. The hospital is also reported to have a shortage of antibiotics as well. Further, it is also said to have a shortage of steroids and vitamin tablets as well.  

The Central Purchase Department (CPD) of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is the responsible body for providing civic-run hospitals with medicines. However, according to sources, the department hasn't supplied the required medicines due to late tendering reportedly caused due to the Covid pandemic. The officials added that they didn't get any bidders due to which the process got delayed, which generally takes around three months. 

When a 43-year-old patient was rushed to the hospital immediately after a road accident, where an auto-hit his scooter, due to which his right hand was crushed, the hospital did not have a stock of tetanus injection to treat him. The family members of the patient were asked to buy it from outside at their own expense. The patient's son said, "It was not only TT injection, we had to buy seven of the nine prescribed medicines from outside as the hospital didn't have them."

Noting that there is a severe shortage of clinical materials in the hospital like cotton and gloves, a doctor from the hospital said, "This generally happens at the end of the financial year but this time, it has been nearly over two months that we are struggling. We don't have basic amenities such as gloves which are essential considering the ongoing pandemic."

Subsequently, the hospital has been availing medicines and other materials from local sources. However, the hospital's fund got finished in the month of January. Eventually, the BMC provided additional funds to the hospital to procure equipment, medicines, and other amenities. 

An officer from the hospital said, "We sent the drug requirement to the CPD but we haven't got it yet. Since the end of the third wave, in the last two months, we have procured medicines worth nearly Rs 3lakh. But due to the high demand, it got over within a week. We are waiting for the next stock."

Stating that the shortage would end within 2 to 3 days, the additional commissioner, BMC told the Indian Express, "We have asked the dean of the medical colleges to make the purchase from their end. We haven't capped their purchase."

Meanwhile, a few doctors complained that the number of non-covid patients has increased rapidly in the hospital considering the flattening of the pandemic curve, with a doctor from the medicine department saying, "Due to the pandemic, many patients avoided visiting the hospital, so now they are flocking to the hospital which is already short-staffed."

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