Pregnancy drugs in short supply

Due to a disruption in manufacturing, several Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation hospitals are facing an acute shortage of essential medicines for pregnant women. Doctors are mainly blaming late submission of tenders for the dire situation, while patients have been left with no option but to buy medicines from private clinics at a higher price.

Sumir Khanna, an auto driver, had to run from pillar to post to find methyldopa, a drug that was given to his wife who is six months pregnant to control her high blood pressure. His wife was admitted to Sion Hospital for treatment related to high blood pressure. The doctor prescribed methyldopa, but as it was unavailable, he had to buy it from outside at a higher price.

“Ten 250-mg methyldopa tablets costs Rs 19, but chemists near the hospital are selling it at Rs 22. As I didn’t have any option, I had to buy it at an higher price,” said Mr Khanna.

Though the World Health Organisation (WHO) has listed methyldopa as an essential medicine for hypertension treatment among pregnant women, several municipal hospitals like Sion Hospital are in short supply of essential medicines.

Labetalol, insulin and betamethasone, for example, are out of stock there.

“Betamethasone is given to pregnant women at the risk of late pre-term delivery, which helps in controlling severe respiratory problems among newborn babies,” said a gynaecologist from Sion Hospital.

Sunita R. Yadav, president of the public health committee, BMC, said,

“The drugs that are out of stock are essential drugs that are required during pregnancy. While providing drug substitutes, doctors should also be very careful. In fact, many medicines don’t even have substitutes, which becomes more problematic for patients.”

“There has been delay in floating tenders, which has delayed the manufacturing of drugs,” she added.

In fact, the civic body had also informed the state health ministry regarding the shortage of essential medicine for pregnant women, a source said.