After Chhattisgarh, Delhi raises drug vigilance

After a Central government circular identified 12 drugs, including the antibiotic Ciprofloxacin tablets, and seven firms for a check, the Delhi government organised a surprise check in Bhagirath place, the largest pharmaceutical distributor market in the capital.

Special secretary S B Shashank told Newsline that three samples of a drug with a composition similar to Ciprofloxacin, produced by one of the seven firms, was identified and sent for testing.

“The market is a hub for wholesale supply of drugs, so we started there. Only one drug with a composition similar to an identified drug was found produced by one of the companies,” Shashank said, adding that a similar raid will be organised in the coming week.

Meanwhile, health secretary Das announced a slew of new projects under the Delhi Medical Supplies Corporation.

“We don’t have a centralised inventory of drugs, which is accountable for monitoring of drug quality. This body will provide warehouse facilities, maintain the appropriate temperature at which drugs should be stored, ensure delivery and monitor purchase, keep buffer stocks and conduct periodical checks on quality,” he said.
Das also announced a telemedicine facility at GB Pant hospital to connect five peripheral hospitals. “We lose a lot of patients in transit.

Through telemedicine facilities, consultants at GB Pant hospital will guide peripheral hospital doctors so they can provide basic emergency management,” Das said.

Das also said a long-planned new medical college in Baba Saheb Ambedkar hospital would be completed by March next year.
Meanwhile, several other projects launched this year are still moving at a slow pace.

An online OPD registration system to ease appointments launched in June this year, is still to be take off. So far, there have only been 6,099 registrations, with a daily average of 32 patients in November and 23 patients in October.

“We will have to popularise the programme through mass awareness campaigns. Though there is no limit in our software, the number of patients opting for it is very low,” Das said.

Little progress has been made on two super specialty hospitals in Tahirpur and Janakpuri, which were conceived in 1998, during the last BJP government.

The construction was completed in 2008 and after multiple changes in its mode of operations, including a PPP project, it was handed over to the Centre. It is finally running as an autonomous society.

Also, 150 new Advanced Life Support (ALS) ambulances with ventilator facility, which were announced before the Commonwealth Games, will now be rolled out in April next year, officials said.

“The tenders are moving together and we believe these will connect hospitals to home. The ambulances will be equipped with a GIS/GPS system connected to the control room, which will allow them to identify the nearest available specialty hospital according to the emergency medical condition of the patient,” Das said.