Need medicines? Wait till the elections are over, says Pune civic body

Bablu Gaikwad 31 whose wife delivered a baby girl in the PMCrun Kamala Nehru Hospital two days ago has had to shell out Rs 3500 on medicines and medical tests till date that too in a governmentrun hospitalPatients pick staterun hospitals because they want to get quality treatment and medicines for free Asked why patients are being told to buy their own medicines authorities gave a bizarre explanation mdash the ongoing model code of conductNO PILLS TO POP At the PMCrun Rajiv Gandhi Hospital there is an acute shortage of the drug Metrogyl Metronidazole which helps control diarrhoea PicsMohan PatilldquoDue to some complications doctors had to make surgical interventions during the delivery She will remain in hospital for another week I am satisfied with the treatment she is getting here But I had to spend a lot of money on medicines and tests In the past two days I ended up spending Rs 3500 Before coming here I was under the impression that along with the treatment the medicines would be given free of costrdquo said Gaikwad who works as a site supervisor in a small firmSHELLING IT OUT Bablu Gaikwad whose wife delivered a baby girl in PMCrsquos Kamala Nehru Hospital has had to shell out R3500 for her medicines and medical tests lsquoCanrsquot help itrsquoPMCrsquos acting Health Chief Dr S T Pardeshi said that his departmentrsquos annual requirement for medicines is Rs 412 crore But this year he is yet to even begin the tendering procedureGaikwad had to foot the medical bill of Rs 1837 even though medicines are given free at civic run hospitals ldquoNormally at the beginning of new financial year we initiate the tendering process to fix a contractor to procure the annual quota of medicines But this year we have not been able to do so due to the model code of conduct being in placerdquo Pardeshi saidldquoMy department comes under the statersquos Urban Development Department In the last month we approached them with a request to allow us to go ahead with the tendering process for both medicines and pesticides In their reply the department asked us to take note of the rules in place during the model coderdquo he addedRPI corporator and medical practitioner Sidhharth Dhende rubbished the clarification given by PardeshildquoIt should be noted that procurement of medicines comes under the lsquoemergencyrsquo head Hence the model code is not applicable to it If an epidemic spreads in the city tomorrow will the health department say that they canrsquot prevent people from dying due to the model code The PMC health chief should read the norms of the model code before giving such lame excusesrdquo said Dhende who also runs a clinic in the Nagpur Chawl areaKamala Nehru Hospital Superintendent Dr Bharatan claimed that all is well in the hospital saying ldquoMy hospital receives medicines from the PMC central store at Gadihana We are not facing any shortage of medicines The patients need to purchase medicines from outside only in the case of a few antibioticsrdquoThe ground reality is quite the opposite PMCrun clinics and hospitals are facing an acute shortage of antibiotics antipyretics and painkillersldquoCases of diarrhoea are increasing in the city But we are facing acute shortage of Metrogyl Metronidazole tablets which helps control diarrhoea Some other antibiotics are also missing for many daysrdquo said Dr Ravi name changed on request of PMCrsquos Rajiv Gandhi Hospital adding ldquoMost hospitals donrsquot even have the simple Paracetamol or cough syrups for that matterrdquo