Chandigarh places annual order for glucose bottles

The health department on Friday placed the annual order for glucose bottles after the Government Multi-Specialty Hospital (GMSH) in Sector 16 ran out of stock of the vital drug. The patients at GMSH, which deals with emergency and trauma cases round-the-clock, had to face problems. On Thursday, the GMSH doctors at the emergency had asked the patients to purchase the drug from the nearby chemist shops. GMSH officials said the institute was facing shortage of the drug for some days.

Health director Dr Rakesh Kashyap on Friday called a meeting on the issue. “The stock is available at the emergency now and it is being provided to the patients at free of cost,” he said. Sources said health secretary Anurag Aggarwal also enquired about the matter from Kashyap on Friday morning.

Kashyap had already said that emergency senior medical officer (SMO) was given the power to purchase the drug up to Rs 10,000 if there is any shortage of any item or if the order takes a long time to deliver. GMSH SMO was on leave for four days and has now joined the duties. While the emergency had started providing glucose to the patients, the administration said it was not clear what led to the shortage or which officer was responsible for it.

“I have sought a report regarding the matter. I cannot share anything right now about who was responsible for it. Let the report come and then only it we can say why this problem happened,” said Kashyap. He also said the administration placed an annual order for the drug on Friday and they are expecting the delivery soon.