The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Drug-dispensing at CGHS a pain

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Saturday, Jul 19, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Drug-dispensing at CGHS a pain

CGHS patients find it difficult to buy medicines
Patients question the quality of substitute drugs

HYDERABAD: A medicine prescribed by a specialist is never supplied to the patient. Chronic patients, accustomed to a particular drug over a period are frequently forced to change the prescribed drug.

The potency of the new drug, substituted for the old one and patient’s reaction to it is seldom assessed.

The Central Government Health Services (CGHS) beneficiaries in Hyderabad have these and many more harrowing tales to narrate, regarding availability and distribution of prescribed drugs from CGHS dispensaries.

Take the instance of 72-year-old pensioner P. Surya Kumar, who was asked to change his regular drug ‘Eltroxin’, prescribed by a specialist for Thyroid ailment, to a new drug by CGHS doctor.

“My ailment responded well to ‘Eltroxin’; however the new medicine is not of much help. CGHS doctors seldom give importance to drugs prescribed by specialists. I gave up the new drug and went back to ‘Eltroxin’ by purchasing it outside,” Mr. Kumar informs.

He is not alone and scores of others are forced to buy medicines prescribed by specialists, as they are not sure about the drugs prescribed by CGHS doctors.

Substitute drugs

When a prescribed medicine is not available at CGHS dispensary, a local pharmacist, specifically identified to supply drugs from outside, collects the list of unavailable drugs from the CGHS dispensary.

“Invariably, the pharmacist does not procure the prescribed drug. The druggist, on his own, supplies a substitute drug, which was not prescribed by a specialist,” recounts another beneficiary G.S. Vittal.

Non-availability of prescribed drugs and a general tendency of CGHS doctors to override the prescription of a specialist doctor forces beneficiaries to purchase drugs from outside.

“If a CGHS doctor is reasonable, he will allow the patient to continue with the drug prescribed by specialist. Scores of CGHS patients are uneducated and financially weak to purchase drugs outside. So they accept whatever is supplied to them,” says Madhusudan Rao, a regular to CGHS clinic at Saroornagar.

Scores of CGHS beneficiaries also question the quality of substitute drugs being supplied under the scheme. Rules say that a substitute drug should have at least 80 per cent efficiency.

“The CGHS doctors never check the efficacy of substitute drugs when the patients visit the hospital for a follow-up,” laments Mr. Rao.

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