TIRUCHY: Patients visiting Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital (MGMGH) are forced to wait up to two hours to collect medicines at the Super Speciality Block, where only two dispensing counters are operational despite heavy demand on outpatient days.
The rush is particularly heavy on Mondays when more than 1,000 patients visit the first-floor medicine counters. The hospital’s outpatient department (OPD) functions on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, drawing around 2,000 patients on a typical OP day. Many are regular patients receiving treatment for cardiac and kidney ailments, with several returning every month for follow-up consultations and prescriptions.
Patients have urged the hospital to open additional counters and streamline medicine distribution to ease congestion.
B Selvam of Keela Pudhur in Palakkarai said he had waited for more than two hours to collect medicines for his kidney ailments. The wait exceeded an hour for L Periaswamy, who accompanied a kidney patient from Pudukkottai, M Manimegalai. She said the unavailability of medicines at nearby primary health centres (PHCs) meant patients had to depend on MGMGH.
M Rajendran, a heart patient from Lalgudi, said although arrangements had been made for cardiac patients to collect their regular medicines from healthcare facilities closer to their homes, occasional unavailability prompted him to visit MGMGH. “I prefer collecting all my prescribed medicines at the hospital once a month,” he said.
A staff member at the medicine dispensing counters said, “We have to retrieve the prescribed medicines, write down the names of medicines and explain the dosage and timings to patients and their attendants. With only two counters operational, handling the rush takes time, particularly on busy outpatient days.”
Hospital officials said around 10 volunteers outside the counters have been deployed to assist with medicine distribution. The issue of long waiting hours would be discussed and steps to establish additional dispensing counters would be considered in the coming days.
The hospital has already introduced arrangements for stable cardiology patients to collect their regular medicines from PHCs closer to their homes, the officials added.