Health Secretary Finds Only 80 of 390 Listed Drugs Given at Kabirchaura Hospital OPD

The state's Secretary, Medical Health, Ritu Maheshwari, found serious gaps in medicine distribution, X-ray services and pathology testing at the SSPG Divisional Hospital in Kabirchaura, Varanasi, during an inspection on Thursday, and ordered the hospital to fix them.

The biggest gap was in medicines. The hospital's essential drugs list has more than 390 medicines, but only about 80 to 85 were being distributed in the OPD, the inspection found. Maheshwari told doctors and paramedical staff that they must be told which medicines are available.

The hospital was also not uploading its medicine requirements on the designated portal, and this has to be corrected immediately. She was unhappy that drugs were not being stored according to the norms.

In the X-ray department she found five X-ray machines, of which only one, a digital machine, was working. She directed that all machines other than the digital one be sent to other health units.

Maheshwari said the problems were not limited to medicine distribution and X-ray. There were major shortcomings in the testing arrangements in the hospital's pathology section too, she said, and these were keeping patients from getting timely and proper treatment. The hospital administration was told to remove the deficiencies at once.

The inspection also covered services under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission and ABHA-based services, which were not found to be working properly and need to be improved quickly.

Patients were having to make repeated visits for test reports because reports were not being sent to their mobile phones. The hospital has been given a week to start sending reports on WhatsApp.

Maheshwari asked the hospital's superintendent-in-charge, Dr Brijesh Kumar, to put online registration and scan-based services in place effectively, so that patients can register and pay from home. Once the online system is running, patients will be able to scan a QR code at the hospital to get a token.

She also looked at the site of the 500-bed super-speciality hospital that is to be built on the divisional hospital campus. Several existing buildings have to be demolished for it, and the wards in those buildings are to move to the MCH wing on the women's hospital campus.

The shifting has been slow. The Secretary gave the people connected with the executing agency 15 days to complete it and warned that action would be taken against those responsible if it is not done in that time. Once the wards move on schedule, construction can pick up speed, she said.

Chief Medical Officer Dr N.P. Singh, Dr Brijesh Kumar and Dr Abhishek Rai were among those present.

The Secretary has now set two clear deadlines, one week for WhatsApp reports and 15 days for shifting the wards. Whether both are met should be known before the middle of October.