CUTTACK: Kidney patients undergoing treatment at the nephrology department of SCB Medical College and Hospital here claimed that they are struggling to maintain their treatment schedules due to shortages of essential medicines at the hospital’s Niramaya outlets.
Several patients, mostly from economically weaker backgrounds, have written a letter to Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi under the banner of Odisha Kidney Rogi Paribar, seeking immediate intervention and restoration of medicine supply.
In the letter, signed by organisation president Brundaban Azad, who is a kidney patient, and secretary Baneswar Sahu, father of a kidney transplant recipient, the group stated that hundreds of patients from Odisha and neighbouring states depend on SCBMCH every day for treatment. However, several lifesaving medicines are allegedly unavailable for months. Drugs such as Alfaketoanalogou, Voriconazole and Valgancyclovir have reportedly been out of stock for the last three months.
The letter also highlighted that while tacrolimus 0.25 mg tablets, intended for paediatric patients, are available, adult kidney transplant patients require 4–5 mg twice daily. “With this shortage, doctors are advising patients to take 16 to 20 tablets at a time, which is extremely difficult to swallow,” Azad said.
Shortage of peritoneal dialysis fluid for the past two months has further added to the distress, leaving patients dependent on peritoneal dialysis in hardship, the letter stated. The organisation has urged the chief minister to ensure uninterrupted supply of the required medicines at the hospital.
Efforts to obtain a response from SCBMCH superintendent Gautam Satapathy remained unsuccessful.