Many listed medicines not available in AIIMS

New Delhi: After standing in a queue at the AIIMS pharmacy for hours, 67-year-old Furqan (name changed) has got only two of the six medicines prescribed by the doctors.

He is a diabetic and a high blood pressure patient and has been getting treated for the same at All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) two years now.

But he says he is suffering from acute headache since he hasn't been taking his medicines for some time now due to their non-availability at the AIIMS pharmacy.

“Even last time I didn't get all the medicines prescribed by the doctor and there was no information on when these will be available,” he said, adding that he skips taking the medicines not available at the AIIMS pharmacy since he cannot afford to buy these from outside.  

Many essential medicines are not available at the AIIMS generic drug store with the doctors complaining that even those who are getting the medicines are getting combinations and medicines according to the doctor’s prescriptions.

At present, as many as 230 generic medicines are listed in the premier hospital and the drugs are available free of cost at the pharmacy.

“But many medicines  out of these 230 listed drugs are not available at the AIIMS for more than a year now.

Basic medicines,  insulin injections and inhalers for asthma patients are also not available. “We have made several requests to the hospital administration and also wrote many times to the to the Union health ministry. If it’s happening in AIIMS generic medicines store, one can well imagine the situation at the other AIIMS pharmacies,” said a doctor who did not wish to be identified.  

Last year, the AIIMS doctors had written to the director asking him to add 53 commonly used drugs to the hospital’s list of generic medicines.

The move had come after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced that the government will bring in a law to compel the doctors to prescribe generic medicines only.

However, the administration has said that while most of the medicines are available, 100 per cent stock can’t be kept due to “budgetary constraints".