Sambalpur, Oct. 11: Residents of Sambalpur town today gheraoed the chief district medical officer to protest against improper storage of medicines in the district headquarters hospital.

“Life-saving medicines remain improperly stored at the central store of the hospital. We have submitted a memorandum to the chief district medical officer asking him to take immediate action against this. He has assured us that the problem will be resolved within seven days,” said Sambeet Sahu, a protester.

“Patients are being barred from getting medicines from the hospital. They are being asked to buy medicines from shops even if those are available for free distribution at the central store. Bulk medicines are often dumped in the hospital,” said Srikant Panigrahi, another protester.

The authorities must also initiate steps to open the janousodhi store in the district headquarters hospital as soon as possible so that poor patients could avail the medicines at a cheap price, he said.

Chief district medical officer Panchanan Patel said: “We have sufficient space for storing the medicines. The hospital’s staff members have been asked to store medicines carefully.”