India: How are poor patients duped at Hallet Hospital?

 Hallet Hospital

KANPUR: It was certainly an eye-opener for the Chief Superintendent Prof R K Maurya of Hallet Hospital who inspected the intensive care unit on Saturday morning. How have the poor patients been weeping blood in anguish at the prescription of the costly antibiotics injections? In rather factual findings he learnt of the exact fleecing of the poor money and fooling them in the name of treatment at the government hospital. It was also learnt that it costs from rupees ten to fifteen thousand per day at the expense of the hospital’s ICU. Patients have to purchase costly injections ranging from rupees 1500 to 2000. These injection shots are applied thrice on a daily basis.

Despite the availability of ample quantities of antibiotic injections at the hospital’s store, they were asked to purchase Colistin injection used for the treatment of infections caused by susceptible gram-negative bacteria.  

A little bit perplexed with this kind of anomaly at the hospital’s ICU, Dr Maurya suggested the junior doctors to possibly avoid purchasing of the costly antibiotics injections from the poor patients without a thorough test of the culture sensitivity.

His reaction came after his finding of a poor youth holding six vials of the heavy antibiotics outside the ICU. On questioning, he revealed that the doctors at the intensive care unit have asked him to make the local purchase of the heavy dose of injections for an admitted patient.

 Dr Maurya made it clear that ample quantity of the antibiotics was available at the hospital’s medicines store. Injections such as Vancomycin, Gentamicin, Cyproperazol, Meropenem, Cyfe Cajon-Salvectom, Piperacillin and etc are available.

He placed the orders for vials each of Colstein 1 Million IU powder, Colstein  2Million IU powder injections. Its govt price stays between Rs 126 and Rs 207. No costly antibiotics will be used without culture and sensitivity test of the patients, he cautioned.