KARACHI: Mismanagement of drugs at JPMC: Suffering of a patient
By Nizamuddin Siddiqui
KARACHI, Oct 20: It is the worst of times for Qamaruddin — a young mason. The reason: even though he is the breadwinner in a large family, he has not been able to earn a single penny for the last three months.
It is not that he does not want to work. He does, but his condition does not permit him to. He is suffering from a severe form of Haemophilia. His knees remain swollen all the time and there is a constant danger that there may be internal bleeding in case the treatment is stopped.
Qamaruddin got himself admitted at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre not long ago. He thought that this hospital, being in the public sector, would take good care of him, not just through better health-care but also by way of free medicine. However, his expectations were soon dashed.
He had been told that the JPMC had a fully fledged Health Welfare Committee, which could provide free medicine to him. This was important for him because his doctors had prescribed an injectable — known as Human Anti-Haemophilic Factor (Koate-DVI, Code 665-30) — which was supposed to be administered twice a week.
Initially, he had a smooth sailing vis-a-vis the JPMC’s Health Welfare Committee. The people manning this committee seemed to be good people and an assistance of Rs11,000 was approved without much ado.
At this juncture, Qamaruddin thought that his troubles were largely over. He thought that at Rs700 per injection, he would be able to procure at least 15 injections from the drug store approved by the JPMC for distribution of medicines among the needy people.
But, when he approached the drug store for acquiring the injectable, he was stunned to know that one injection was priced at Rs3,968. This meant that with the Rs11,000 granted to him by the welfare committee, he could only procure three injections.
He had, time and again, bought the same injection for Rs650 to Rs750 from the market, so he knew full well that he was being shortchanged. Qamaruddin felt cheated and betrayed. All the time and effort that he had spent on getting the grant approved seemed going down the drain.
He and his attendants contacted the senior officials of the hospital, including Dr Mashhoor Alam Shah, and told them of his plight. A few days later, after considerable effort on his part, the price of the injection was adjusted to Rs900.
One problem that remains to be resolved relates to the potency and quantity of the injectable. For Rs900 he is getting 280 international units of the said injection. He knows that for the same amount he can get 660 units.
However, the biggest problem facing him now is how to get hold of the injections. He has contacted the senior officials in this regard, but so far the injection has not been administered even once.
When on Thursday JPMC’s director, Prof Kazi Abdul Shakoor, was informed about the problems still faced by Qamaruddin, the professor was taken aback.
He asked one of his assistants — Dr Srichand — to look into the matter as soon as possible. The doctor said that at least four cases had been detected by the JPMC’s administration in which the drug store had acted wrongly.
The director instructed Dr Srichand to take all the necessary steps as soon as possible. But first proper investigations be made.
In the meantime, Qamaruddin waits anxiously for the hurdles to be removed. It remains to be seen if and when his problems are resolved. It also remains to be seen whether the JPMC draws any lesson from the episode.
