Amendments in local purchase of medicines: Outdoor patients facing problems

Rashid Ali

ATTOCK: Punjab govt has made amendments in local purchase of medicines thus causing lot of problems for those out door patients who were earlier availing this facility.

As per the new policy and operational guide lines for local purchase of medicines only indoor and patients in emergency can avail this facility and the out door patients suffering from different chronic diseases have to purchase medicines from their own pockets.

As per the new policy , the medical superintendents have been clearly asked to identify the medicines commonly and frequently purchased medicines and include them into the list of bulk purchase lists. As per the policy the local purchase may be in bulk or specific patient local purchase  (not interpreted clearly).

Local purchase may be within prescribed limits of 15% of the total budget. Repeated items that are being purchased through L.P. may be identified and communicated to Procurement Cell for procurement through bulk purchase.

As per the policy monthly meeting may be conducted at hospital level and analysis of L.P.must be discussed and the minutes must be forwarded to Procurement Cell.

Outdoor patients which included a senior citizen Syed Raza Haider Naqvi and others told Media  that the policy was issued in December 2017 by Secretary Primary and Secondary Health Punjab and till now they were availing this facility but now as a new Medical Superintendent has took over the responsibilities of DHQ Hospital has refused to provide us medicines on the pretext of this new policy and said that previously the policy was being violated.

Medical Superintendent Dr Khalid Mehmood when contacted told this scribe that he would follow the policy and said that if something was being done wrong by the previous Medical Superintendent then he would be answerable for that.