QUEPEM
Patients continue to suffer at the Primary Health Centre (PHC) in Quepem due to lack medicines and shortage of doctors.
Over 40 days after The Goan had highlighted the hardships faced by patients at the Quepem PHC and assurances by officials, there has been little change at the health centre.
On Monday morning, there were over 30 patients, including children and senior citizens, waiting patiently for a checkup outside the OPD. There was a lone doctor attending to patients on one end.
There was also the head nurse in the same room attending to patients at the other end of the OPD, which is adjacent to the registration counter.
Adding to the misery of patients, medicines prescribed by the doctor were unavailable in the pharmacy and some were given prescriptions and advised to buy medicines from outside.
One patient was prescribed 30 tablets but the pharmacist gave her only 20 saying there was a shortage. Some patients had to go empty handed due to shortage of medicines.
When The Goan sought to know if medicines for diabetic patients were available, a source claimed that these were unavailable for a long time. “Actually, patients have to buy these medicines from outside,” the source said.
Asked if calcium tablets prescribed by the doctor are available, the source replied in the negative.
“It’s been a long time since these tablets have not been available in the PHC. Not just these tablets, but several medicines are not available and there is no clarity on when the PHC will get these medicines,” the source added.
Efforts were made to contact Quepem PHC Health Officer Dr Lorna Fernandes to shed light on the medicine shortage, but she was not in her office.
Efforts were made to contact Director of Health Services Dr Sanjeev Dalvi, but he too was reportedly busy at a meeting.
