Bhopal . AIIMS’s Amrit Pharmacy has been accused of charging high prices for medicines from patients. A cancer patient complained that he was given a medicine worth Rs 82 thousand, whereas the same medicine was available in the outside market for only Rs 65 thousand. According to the MOU between AIIMS and Amrit Pharmacy, medicines should be made available to patients at affordable rates, but they are being sold at higher prices in the pharmacy. This is not only increasing the financial burden for the patients, but also amounts to violation of the MOU.
Difference of Rs 16,700 in the price of medicine
A patient undergoing cancer treatment at Bhopal AIIMS for the last one year complained to the AIIMS management. According to the complaint, the victim was being treated from the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund. The doctor advised him a medicine called Trastuzumab Entansine (TDM-1). This medicine was made available to him from Amrit Pharmacy for Rs 81,900, whereas it was available at a medicine shop outside for Rs 65,200. That means there was a difference of Rs 16,700 between the rates of medicines at Amrit Pharmacy and outside. Saying that his financial condition was not good, he asked for medicines to be made available at low cost for further treatment. When Amar Ujala asked questions from the AIIMS administration about the action taken in this matter, the officials did not give any answer.
SOP not followed in Amrit Pharmacy
In another complaint, a nursing officer of AIIMS Hospital has complained about Amrit Pharmacy. In this, the issue of not following SOP by its employees was raised. In his complaint, he alleged that one of the medicines prescribed for his mother from the Respiratory Disease Department was not available in Amrit Pharmacy. When he demanded to write ‘Not Available’ on the prescription for the unavailable medicine, the pharmacy staff refused to do so. His mother is an EHS beneficiary. EHS beneficiaries have the flexibility to get reimbursed for out-of-pocket medications when they are unavailable from the pharmacy. It was said that the staff was not aware of EHS SOP.
Error not stopping after instructions
Such cases are continuously coming to the fore in the hospital. This is the reason why AIIMS officials held a meeting with Amrit Pharmacy in 2022 regarding this. This includes complaints like doctors not giving complete medicines prescribed to patients, mistakes in records, more number of medicines being recorded in the invoice than actually received. In this regard, the situation is being fulfilled by giving instructions to AIIMS. Such complaints are still continuing.
