Medicine scam: Maharashtra activists welcome suspension of health officials, demand Tamil Nadu mode
The JAA recommended that the Tamil Nadu system of medicine procurement and distribution should be adopted by Maharashtra.
2 min read
Maharashtra Health Minister Deepak Sawant has suspended three high level officials—Dr Satish Pawar, director, health services, Maharashtra; Dr Raju Jotkar, deputy director, National Health Mission; and Dr Sachin Desai, current assistant director, purchase department—over an allegation of a scam worth Rs 297 crore in the purchase of 549 types of medicines.
A statement issued by the Jan Arogya Abhiyan (JAA) said that although the immediate action was welcome, the suspension did not resolve the problem in medicine procurement and distribution system. An overhaul of the system was necessary, considering aspects like transparency, quality control and monitoring mechanism, it added.
[related-post]
The JAA recommended that the Tamil Nadu system of medicine procurement and distribution should be adopted by Maharashtra. The availability of medicines in remote areas was an area of concern, it added.
In a remote district like Nandurbar, there is shortage of syrup medicine for children, and paracetamol tablets. Given this situation, a scam in medicine procurement was a matter of shame for the state, said Dr Abhijit More of JAA.
The Tamil Nadu model could provide a good roadmap for instituting a decentralised system of medicine procurement and distribution, the JAA further said. It added that a deeper investigation would be required into the role of the officials suspended over the scam, and merely taking action against a few officials was a knee-jerk reaction.
Identifying the entire chain of people responsible for the scam and acting against them is necessary, besides deriving a comprehensive solution for the problem, according to Dr Anant Phadke.
You May Like
Photos
