JAMMU: Death of an inpatient in Government Medical College Hospital Jammu due to medical ‘negligence’ has exposed the nexus in procuring sub-standard drip sets costing just Rs 4.7 per set. Against this, Srinagar GMC procures quality drip sets costing Rs 9.5 per set. The rates have been approved by the respective purchase panels. The GMC Srinagar gets the drip sets which are approved for All India Institute of Medical Sciences Delhi and Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Chandigarh. Jammu GMC is an exception.
“The death was due to drip reaction and there have been several such instances in the past two years. The doctors had already brought this to the notice of the authorities in the hospital that there was some problem with the drips procured,” claimed Dr Neeraj Sharma President of the Resident Doctors Association GMC.
Medicine Registrar Dr Sushil Pandita has been placed under suspension by the Principal GMC.
Sources told STATE TIMES that the drip sets approved for GMC Jammu lack quality specifications, which pose a grave risk to the patient who is being dispensed IV fluid. Each day, five to six patients get infected by these drip sets, which get simultaneously treated for infections ‘bestowed upon them by the hospital’. The inferior drip sets have caused several deaths in the premier hospital, a fact confirmed by the Doctors Association.
The GMC requires a minimum of one lakh drip sets per month. The supply is being made locally by the ‘approved firm’ and the bulk consignment comes in lose packing, bundled in gunny bags, whileas the branded procurement in Srinagar is made in designated packs, the sources said, adding that the dispensing medicos or para medics seldom agitate over spurious drugs, allied material or inferior diagnostic machines.
The requisition for drip sets and IV fluid keeps swelling with surge in inpatients. Almost 50,000 bottles are supplied to the staff for dispensing to admitted patients.
Apprehending nexus between procures and suppliers, sources said that all the hospitals in Jammu and Kashmir make purchases at own level, as there is no centralized mechanism for the purpose.
Sources said that most of the doctors in the emergency wing of the GMC counsel to their known patients to purchase disposables from market because of poor quality supply in the hospital.