Three primary health centres at Handwara in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district are running short of basic medicines, locals said.
Locals complained that the Primary Health Centres atChowgul, Nutnussa and Magam do not have even the basic drugs available withthem. “Every patient has to buy the drugs from the market,” they complained.
“My mother is admitted at PHC Chowgul. I buy every singlemedicine from the market. Even the drip set, IV fluid and cotton I had toprocure from the market,” Tawkeed, an attendant said.
He added: “The doctors prescribed some medicine and asked meto admit my mother. When I went to the pharmacy room, I was asked to get thedrugs from the market as they were running short of medicines.”
A doctor at PHC Chowgul said there are no lifesaving drugsavailable in the hospital which are important for any emergency.
“It pains us to see the poor attendants making rounds of thehospital to get a little help, we collect money sometimes to get theirmedicines,” he said.
Same is the case with two more PHCs at Magam and Nutnussa.
“We have to visit Handwara or Kupwara to get the medicine asthere is no medicine available inside or outside the hospital,” said Javed ofNutnussa.
“We only get the consultation at PHC Nutnusa. For the testsor medicines we are forced to visit Kupwara or Handwara area,” he said.
However, the authorities expressed helplessness. They saidthat the government has given the contract of supplying the medicines to thehospitals to Jammu and Kashmir Medical Supplies Corporation (JKMSC) and theycannot directly purchase the medicines from out of the hospital funds.
“This hospital is running short of the medicines for months.We have yet to get the medicines from the JKMSC,” Block Medical OfficerHandwara Dr Mummar said.