Andhra Pradesh: Now, common tender for emergency drugs

Amaravati: Taking serious note of the recent complaints about non-availability of ‘Maha Prasthnam’ ambulances in hospitals, the state government has decided to strengthen the call centre to address public grievances.

The state government has also decided to go for a common tender to procure emergency medicines in government hospitals to avoid shortage of drugs. The state government is determined to ensure better services are extended to patients in all hospitals.

“There is dearth of funds for purchase of drugs. The state government has increased the budget for emergency procurement by 100 per cent. Chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy wants that no patient visiting government hospitals should be asked to purchase medicines from outside,” said principal secretary (health) MT Krishnababu.

He directed district collectors to closely monitor the requirements and patient services in the public healthcare institutions. He asked the district medical and health officers (DMHOs) to take all grievances to the notices of district collectors for taking prompt action.

“The government has allotted 650 crore for purchase of drugs. We are shortly launching a common tender process to procure the emergency medicines. While the hospital authority could go for procurement depending on the need, billing would be cleared at the central office,” said Krishnababu.

He directed superintendents of district and teaching hospitals and medical officers of primary health centres to strictly follow the biometric attendance system. He said that all the doctors/medical officers should be available from 9am to 4pm in general hospitals while the others should follow shifts.

He directed the senior medical officers including professors not to skip out-patient services under the guise of taking classes for students. He directed the director of medical education (DME) and director of health (DH) to improve performance with regard to biometric attendance. He directed district collectors to immediately respond to any issue highlighted in the media and take corrective measures. He said they would procure more ‘Maha Prasthnam’ vehicles to provide better services to take the bodies of patients home.