Medicines worth Rs 16.17 crore lay unused at RGGGH till they expired

The medicines were lying unused till they expired, claimed a CAG report.

Medical institutions run by the state source their medicines through TNMSC, a public sector undertaking of the state government and the TNMSC maintains two lists of medicines. In November 2013, TNMSC called for requirements from the DME for 45 medicines, which were added to the Essential Drug List (EDL). The DME received the requirements from all 37 hospitals under its control and organised them.

The list of medicines that the DME asked for included Capsule Tacrolimus 1 mg and Tablet Bromocriptine 2.5 mg. While all 37 hospitals had asked for the same medicines, RGGGH’s request alone comprised 82 and 99 per cent of the medicines respectively.

But, according to the CAG report, the files revealed that medicines worth Rs 14.25 crore had expired between June and September 2016.

It found that RGGGH demanded 1.80 crore capsules of Tacrolimus 1 mg and 96 lakh tablets of the latter Bromocriptine 2.5 mg when the overall consumption of these drugs by state medical institutions across the state was 5.46 lakh capsules for the former and 7,000 for the latter.

The report also alleged that even though the dean’s approval is mandatory for such demands made by the hospital’s Medical Stores Officer (MSO), his consent was not taken before calling for the medicines.

Besides, despite its high value and the low consumption as seen last year, the DME had not analysed the abnormal requirement as was submitted by RGGGH.

Following this, the government therefore stated that the DME has taken measures to create a new section in his office for it and make it mandatory for all heads of medical institutions to submit authenticated copies of their requirements based on previous consumption.