CHENNAI: The lone public health centre in Perumbakkam, which caters to 13,000 families living in the slum clearance board’s tenements, is running short of medicines for cardiac issues, diabetes, and epilepsy, say residents. So far, there is just one confirmed Covid-19 case in the tenements, based on which samples were taken from 42 contacts for testing. Their results are due on Tuesday evening.
“Medicines are available in private shops, but costs `3,000 to `5,000. Now that we are out of jobs and dependent on government relief, we cannot afford to purchase them at that cost,” says resident Sathyavani, who buys cardiac medicines for her father. “As the government is advising us not to step out often, my husband tried to get a month’s supply of medicines for his diabetes. But, the staff said they can give only for 15 days and that we have to come back again,” says resident T Karpagam.
Health department has denied the claims, saying medicines are uniformly supplied across health centres. “If the need arises, we will adjust and redistribute according to demand,” an official said.