The state capital is reeling under a crisis of medicines during the ongoing 21-day lockdown.

From common over-the-counter medicines to lifesaving drugs, most are in short supply, said a major medicine dealer of the city.

“Stocks of Cellfitz, Tacrolimus, Sirolimus, important for those whose kidneys have been transplanted, and Imatinib and Ceritinib, which cancer patients use, are very limited. Many types of insulin required for diabetics are also out of stock,” the dealer said, requesting anonymity.

The supply glitches are mainly two, he said. One, during the lockdown the supply chain from main supplier to distributor to retailer is unpredictable, he said.

Second, as shops are opened for a limited time, owners have to choose between staying at the shop or going to the distributor.

Ranchi resident Sunil Kumar, whose mother is admitted to RIMS for the last one week for stomach pain, said he could not complain about medicine shops in the markets when medicines are out of stock even at RIMS, the largest government hospital in Jharkhand.

“I have to purchase medicines from outside with great difficulty,” Kumar said.

A resident of Palamau, Arvind Kumar Thakur, who came here for the treatment of his five-year-old son who swallowed a coin, supported Kumar.

“I did not get the syrup my son needed at RIMS. Nurses told me that antibiotics are out of stock and even medicines for fever are running out,” Thakur said.

The Telegraph on Thursday morning saw a big crowd outside a retail outlet of medicines on the RIMS campus where medicines were being sold at subsidised prices. Some maintained social distancing, some were too anxious about whether they would get their medicine or not to care.

Doctors, in their meeting with chief minister Hemant Soren on Wednesday, had pointed out that medicines were being sold in many pharmacies at inflated prices following the lockdown.

Health secretary Nitin Madan Kulkarni on Thursday said they were acting on it.

“All drug inspectors are checking (pharmacies) and in case they detect any wrongdoing, FIRs are being lodged,” Kulkarni said.

Ranchi civil surgeon Dr Vijay Bihari Prasad supported Kulkarni’s observation but said he was not aware of any major crisis.

Amar Kumar Sinha, secretary of Jharkhand Chemists & Druggists Association, however, acknowledged that there is a problem.

“Many drug companies changed their carrying and forwarding offices to Bihar and Bengal from Jharkhand. During lockdown bringing medicines from those states has become tough,” Sinha said.

Dr Bharti Kashyap, who was present in the meeting with Hemant on Wednesday, said: “The chief minister was told that a mask of Re 1 is being sold at the rate of Rs 21.50 while hand sanitisers usually sold for Rs 50 are being sold for Rs 130.”