BHUBANESWAR: Organ transplant patients in the State are reeling under acute shortage of essential drugs supplied by the State government under its free drugs scheme through Niramaya stores. Drugs like Tacrolimus, Cyclosporin, Mycophenolate sodium, Mycophenolate Mofetil 500, Sirolimus and Everlimus of specific brands that are effective and help in early recovery of kidney transplant patients are not available in government stores.
The patients alleged the drugs of same compositions supplied by Odisha State Medical Corporation Limited (OSMCL) are of substandard quality and continue to be short supply.The patients residing in rural areas of the State suffer a lot as they often fail to get the required medicines even after travelling a long distance to the district headquarters town or nearby cities due to unavailability.
The shortage was drugs which was severe during lockdown though normalised after the OSMCL procured essential drugs and supplied to different district headquarters hospitals, the crisis cropped up again due to supply of drugs of substandard quality.After a group of patients recently took up the issue with Health Minister Naba Kishore Das, the Minister had ordered a probe.
In a recent review, Superintendent of SCB Medical College and Hospital at Cuttack informed the Minister that the patients are demanding medicines from specific brands though the drugs with same chemical composition are being supplied by the OSMCL. However, the Minister ordered a panel under the chairmanship of Director of Medical Education and Training (DMET) to look into the grievances of the patients.
As per the direction, a panel headed by DMET has been constituted. Other members of the committee included Managing Director of OSMCL, Drugs Controller, Principal and Superintendent of SCB Medical College and Hospital at Cuttack besides the Associate Professor of Nephrology department.
Director of Health Services Dr Bijay Mohapatra said the panel in its preliminary report has asserted that the same OSMCL drugs are being provided to patients during their one-month observation post-transplantation.OSMCL will look into the options and ask other brands to participate in bids so that the drugs of specific brands can be procured as per the rules.