Shops closed,citizens rush to hospitals for medicines in city

Similar was the case with Vasanti Bapat who,after finding almost all the shops on Laxmi road closed,did away without the medicines. “I am a resident of the old city area and before coming to cast my vote,I wanted to buy some medicines. I checked with most of the shops in Laxmi road area and as they were closed,I had no option but not to buy the medicine,” said Bapat.

Poona Hospital,the sure shot destination for medicines in Deccan area of the city recorded a 25 per cent rise in the number of visitors than usual during the morning time. “We have been operational since the past 26 years and people know that medicines are available 24X7 at our medical shop. Despite the fact that the Out Patients Department (OPD) of the hospital was closed today because of the elections,there was a continuous rush of customers who came asking for medicines from nearby areas of the city,” said Roshan Jain of Poona Hospital Medical Store.

Jehangir Hospital is another such destination for residents in Yerawada,Pune Station,Koregaon Park,Tadiwala Road areas .

Manoj Hundekari,pharmacist,Jehangir Hospital Drug Store said,“Our OPD has been open since morning but out of 77 receipts that I have generated since morning,only 27 have been issued to OPD patients. The rest 50 are by the names of outsiders,majority of whom are diabetic and cardiac patients who are not taking treatment in the hospital. People have been coming from distant places searching for medicines they are not able to get in city due to medical store shutdown. For instance- a customer came searching for Minirin Spray,which he could not get in the city.”