Seti Zonal Hospital facing drug crunch

Dhangadhi, June 8

Health workers in Dhangadi-based Seti Zonal Hospital have been facing problems while treating patients for want of medicine at the hospital.

Health workers at the hospital said the concerned contractor company had failed to provide drugs to the health facility,and violated the contract signed with the hospital administration.

Dhangadi-based DB Medicine had signed a contract to supply the medicine and other medical items to the hospital for the current fiscal year.

Staffers at the hospital said patients were unable to avail of lab facilities and medicine due to the apathy shown by DB Medicine.

They said the heath workers were unable to diagnose various diseases after the contractor company did not provide chemicals required to run labs tests.

Similarly, lab technicians at the health facility said they were unable to conduct lab tests for more than 11 types of diseases due to lack of chemicals.

Mukunda Joshi, a lab technician said, “We are compelled to send the patients to private labs due to severe negligence on the part of the contractor company.”

He added that the contractor company provided the hospital with insufficient medicine and chemicals despite frequent requests to send adequate supplies.

Store chief at the hospital Jit Bahadur Shah, said negligence on the part of contractor companies was an old trend.

“The companies have always sent insufficient drugs that fail to meet the demand at the hospital. DB Medicine is no exception as it has been persistently delaying the supply of necessary drugs saying that the demanded drugs were scarce in the market,” he informed.

Meanwhile, Muralidhar Joshi, of DB Medicine, refuted the hospital’s allegation that the company was not providing sufficient drugs.