KEM hospital faces drug shortage, BMC assures crisis will end soon

KEM hospital has nearly 7 lakh patients in Out Patient Department (OPD) annually. On a yearly basis, around 90,000 patients are admitted at the hospital for treatment. In 2019, 24,413 and 35,146 major and minor surgeries respectively were performed at the hospital. While having such a huge in-flow of patients, the hospital has been struggling with an irregular supply of emergency medicines—used for the treatment of patients with cardiac arrest and trauma — for the past two months. The Indian Express learn that the hospital currently also has a shortage of antibiotics as well.

Forty-three-year-old Ganesh Upadhyay was rushed to the hospital after he met with a road accident when an auto hit his scooter. The right hand of the Kalbadevi resident got crushed in the accident. But as the hospital didn’t have tetanus injection, the family was told to buy it from outside at their own expense. “It was not only TT injection, we had to buy seven of the nine prescribed medicines from outside as the hospital didn’t have them,” said Upadhyay’s son, Sanjay.

In fact, the hospital has a shortage of steroids and vitamin tablets too. The Central Purchase Department (CPD) of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is responsible for providing medicines to the civic-run hospitals. But sources said that in the last two months, due to late tendering amid Covid-19 pandemic, the department hasn’t supplied the required medicines. The officials said they didn’t get bidders which further delayed the process which generally takes three-months.

Also, there is an acute shortage of clinical materials such as cotton and gloves. “This generally happens at the end of the financial year but this time, it has been nearly over two months that we are struggling. We don’t have basic amenities such as gloves which are essential considering the ongoing pandemic,” said a doctor from the hospital. To meet the demand, the hospital has been procuring the medicines and materials from local sources. But the hospital’s fund got over in January itself. Later, the BMC provided additional funds to procure equipment, medicines and other amenities. “We sent the drug requirement to the CPD but we haven’t got it yet. Since the end of the third wave, in the last two months, we have procured medicines worth nearly Rs 3lakh. But due to the high demand, it got over within a week. We are waiting for the next stock,” said an officer from the hospital.

The civic body claimed that the shortage will end within 2-3 days. “We have asked the dean of the medical colleges to make the purchase from their end. We haven’t capped their purchase,” said Suresh Kakani, additional commissioner, BMC.

The doctors also complained that with the flattening of the pandemic curve, the burden of non-Covid patients has increased drastically at the hospital. “Due to the pandemic, many patients avoided visiting the hospital, so now they are flocking to the hospital which is already short-staffed,” said another doctor from the medicine department.