Medicines dumped by government-run hospital in Kendrapara. Telegraph picture

Kendrapara, May 2: Termites have eaten up medicines worth lakhs of rupees at the government-run health facilities in this coastal district.

Lying undistributed for months, medicines were eaten up by the pests. Harried health authorities later dumped these on deserted spots, which go against the mandatory guidelines of medical bio-waste disposal rules.

“We have received reports of the dumping of medicines at the Rajnagar primary health centre. The medical officer of the concerned PHC has been directed to explain under what circumstances the medicines had to be dumped,” said Biraj Kumar Sahu, chief district medical officer (CDMO), Kendrapara.

Medicines that were either past their expiry dates or lacking potency are to be dumped following medical bio-waste disposal rules. But this was not done.

“Poor people undergoing treatment at Rajnagar Hospital here are hardly provided free medicines. They are being fleeced by unscrupulous staff of the hospital unit. Procured medicines are mostly diverted to chemist and drugs retail shops. Besides medicines, anti-rabies vaccines and tetanus injections supplied to the hospital for free distributions to patients are also being sold in the open market,” said Jagabandhu Nayak, a local resident.

There is poor record-keeping and ineffective monitoring of the pharmacy wing of the hospital. As a result, practices such as record falsification, dispensing drugs to “ghost patients” are being practiced here, said local citizens.

“We used to receive nearly Rs 30 lakh worth of medicines annually from the state drugs management unit for free distribution to patients across the government-run health centres in the district. Besides drugs, medicines and contraceptives are also received by us for free distribution,” said CMDO Sahu.

“On some occasions when the there is excess supply of medicines, the stock does not get disposed off. They get past their expiry dates and become unfit to use. We have initiated a number of steps towards enhancing security in our apartment,” Sahu added.