Medicines Purchase: High-level Probe In Meds Purchase At Bmc Hospitals | Mumbai News – Times of India

MUMBAI: Industries minister Uday Samant on Friday announced a high-level probe into the purchase of medicines at BMC hospitals and also a white paper on the services provided by the hospitals to the public.

He was responding to a discussion in the state legislative assembly led by Congress MLA Amin Patel on the lack of medicines and equipment in BMC hospitals, despite the civic body providing a large budget for health.
“The BMC spends on health. But patients at the hospitals are just being given chits and told to buy medicines. How many medicines are actually purchased? There will be a high-level probe into this,” said Samant.

He also said that a white paper will separately examine what services key BMC hospitals like Nair, Sion and KEM are able to provide.
He also said that a drive will be conducted to examine whether private hospitals registered with the charity commissioner are reserving beds for the poor, as mandated.
“The rates charged for medicines and equipment by private hospitals will also be examined,” said Samant.
Congress MLA Amin Patel said that BMC and state-run hospitals in the city were strapped for medicines, equipment and even doctors. “There is a severe lack of medicines at J J Hospital. Patients are given chits of the requirements and asked to buy the medicines from outside. Nair hospital doesn’t even have money to buy garbage bags. This, even though the BMC has a budget which is as large as some states,” said Patel.
BJP MLA Ashish Shelar alleged that there is corruption and misappropriation in the purchase of medicines by the BMC. “The BMC spends Rs 4,000 crore annually on health. Why is there a shortage of medicines and equipment in BMC hospitals. There seems to be corruption in the health department,” alleged Shelar.
He said the city has BMC, state-run, Centre-run, charitable and private hospitals. “There is no information on how many patients come to these hospitals and can they cater to them? A white paper is needed,” said Shelar.
Shelar said that the tax payers are not receiving the medical services they are contributing towards. “ Patients are asked to get all medicines and test reports from outside,” he pointed out.