ISLAMABAD, May 2: The Children Hospital of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) has allowed life-saving drugs worth millions of rupees to expire without being used by the poor patients, hospital sources told Dawn.

The sources said the hospital authorities did not provide medicines to the deserving patients and asked them to purchase them from the pharmacies. The sources said the hospital disposed of a huge quantity of life-saving syrups, cephalosporin (Rs110 per bottle) and Metronidazole (Rs18 per bottle), instead of giving them to the patients.

These syrups were meant to treat children with severe infections, temperature, injuries and diarrhoea. The loss runs to Rs2 million. The sources said in another incident, the staff of the hospital pharmacy informed the administration that the contractor had supplied them with fungus-affected life-saving drugs and Quench cream. But, they added, the authorities disposed of a limited quantity of medicines and Quench cream and cleared the rest of the stuff for use. Quench cream is used to treat burn injuries.

The children operation theatre is also using near-expired sutures. According to the policy, a medicine or an instrument is replaced three months before the expiry date. The cost of the sutures runs from Rs300 to Rs400 and they can be used within three to four years.

When contacted, the doctors and the pharmacists said the sutures could be used three months before the expiry date after which they caused severe infections.

The kit being used by the Pims laboratory for different tests has almost expired but it is still in use. The life of the kit is 18 months. A doctor told this reporter that the performance of the kit could not be relied upon after 16 months.

The Pims executive director, Fazle Hadi, strongly denied that the hospital was using expired medicines and kit. "We replace a medicine three months before the expiry date." Replying to another question about the Quench cream, he said the hospital had received fungus-affected cream but it was immediately replaced. He said an inquiry had also been directed against the contractor.