BHUBANESWAR: The state government on Sunday assured kidney patients of quality treatment and medicines besides making it clear that the purchase of medicines for organ transplant patients by choice of individuals was not feasible.
Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra reviewed issues related to the supply of medicines to kidney transplant patients following the week-long agitation by the patients and their relatives demanding free medicines of certain brands prescribed by their consulting doctors.
In a statement, the chief secretary’s office said the medicines required during kidney transplant surgery and post-transplant treatment are being supplied free of cost under the Niramaya scheme. The quality of the medicines is thoroughly tested in NABL-accredited laboratories before being procured and supplied to the hospitals.
Kidney transplant was started in SCB MCH in March 2012. As many as 187 successful transplantations have been conducted and follow-up treatment is being provided by SCB doctors. Around 120 post-transplant patients are under medication of which 75 per cent are taking medicines supplied through Odisha State Medical Corporation Limited (OSMCL).
“The patients never reported any side effects and their health condition also indicated the good effects of medication. Only around 30 patients demanded medicines of the specific brand from private medicine stores raising a baseless complaint that the medicines supplied by OSMCL had side effects,” the statement said.
Medical experts present in the meeting apprised that the same medicine supplied by OSMCL for kidney patients was also being used by around 400 patients under critical care in other departments like nephrology, rheumatology and dermatology and they did not report any side effects.
Kidney transplant patients protested the decisions. Claiming that the drugs supplied by OSMCL are of substandard quality, they alleged several patients are suffering and some have died due to poor quality and dose mismatch.
“The government has blamed us by stating secret hands of some ill-motivated drug agencies and specific brand private stockists behind the agitation only to hide the nexus of OSMCL with drugs firms. We will take the shelter of the court if they fail to prove it,” said a patient’s relative.