Thiruvananthapuram, 04 Oct (H.S.):

Kerala’s Health Department will establish district monitoring teams to ensure essential medicines reach patients at government hospitals, following complaints of shortages.

Health Minister K. Muraleedharan has directed the Principal Secretary of Health to constitute the teams, which will inspect hospital pharmacies and stores, assess demand and initiate corrective measures before stocks run out.

The minister said the crucial measure of availability was whether patients received medicines, rather than whether hospital records showed adequate stocks.

Each team will be convened by an Additional District Medical Officer or Deputy District Medical Officer. Members will include the hospital superintendent, an Assistant Drugs Controller or Drugs Inspector, the pharmacy store superintendent or officer responsible for the pharmacy, and the Kerala Medical Services Corporation Limited warehouse manager.

The teams will evaluate stocks, patient numbers, medicine consumption, anticipated demand over the days and weeks, and delays in supply. Inspections must establish whether medicines listed in records are available at dispensing counters and how long existing supplies will last.

Where a hospital holds surplus medicines, the team will examine transferring them to another facility facing shortages, following existing rules and procedures. This would help hospitals meet urgent requirements without waiting solely for deliveries.

Weekly reports based on physical inspections must be submitted to the Director of Health Services for hospitals up to district general hospital level. Reports concerning medical colleges will go to the Director of Medical Education.

Reports will detail available medicines, shortages, patient requirements, anticipated demand, reasons for shortfalls, pending corporation supplies and remedial action.

Serious shortages must be reported immediately, without awaiting the weekly review, so emergency supplies can be arranged.

The department said the mechanism would speed up complaint resolution, identify distribution bottlenecks and fix problems at their source, preventing officials from shifting responsibility when patients struggle to obtain medicines.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Arun Lakshman