Patients at PGI pay more for medicines, syringes

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><span style="" font-family:="" times="" new="" roman="" class="author">SOURAV SANYAL</span><br />CHANDIGARH: Strange are the ways of the world. Attendants of patients undergoing treatment at PGI are being literally made to pay out of their nose when it comes to buying drugs for their relatives. The same drug which is available at a cheaper rate outside the hospital, is being sold at a higher price at PGI.<br />The irony is that, even though customers end up paying more, there is very little that they can do about it.For, going by law, the chemist outlets at PGI are not doing anything ''illegal''. <br />Harried customers, whose relatives and friends may be battling for life at PGI, therefore are left with little choice but to procure medicines and surgical equipments from the 24-hour chemist outlets in the hospital at a higher price. Take for instance the differential cost between two Portex chest tubes. <br />As per cash memo of the same available with The Times of India, the two tubes cost Rs 360 for a patient who bought it from the chemist shop at PGI Emergency. Incidentally, the same two tubes are available for Rs 340 at a medicine shop in Sector 11.<br />That is not all. An IV set which is available for Rs 15 at the chemist shop at PGI Emergency is available for Rs 10 elsewhere. Similarly, two urobags which cost Rs 50 at PGI, cost Rs 40 at chemist outlets in Sector 16. <br />The same holds true for Betadine (100 ml). While it costs Rs 70 at chemist outlet outside, a customer has to shell out Rs 72 for the same at PGI. Even thermometers, which are available for as little as Rs 20 elsewhere in the city, are priced at Rs 30 at PGI.<br />"We are poor people. Since time is precious, we cannot afford to go outside and get the medicines from elsewhere. We have to depend on these shops but they end up charging much more. They rule the roost taking full advantage of our mental state," says Priyesh, attending to his friend at the Emergency.<br />Ex-district drug inspector Virinder K Jain, however, says that the chemists at PGI are not ''overcharging'' the patients. <br />"A chemist is liable for prosecution under Section 7 of the Essential Commodity Act only if he is charging a higher amount as compared to the MRP of the drug. The chemist shop at the Emergency is charging the amount that is printed on the drug. Others might be able to offer the medicine at a lower rate as their overhead cost must be lower. Further, the sale price of the drug also depends on the cost at which the retailer buys the medicine. If the purchase cost is less, he can afford to sell the medicine at a price lower than the MRP," he says.<br />Though PGI did not reply to the queries pertaining to the amount paid by the chemist shops, sources say that the chemist shop at the Emergency is one of the costliest in the institute.<br />"Medicines cost more as they have to recover the amount of Rs 11.51 lakh which they pay to PGI every month as rent. Further, they have paid fourmonths security and eightmonths bank guarantee for getting the shop," informed PGI sources.<br />Different prices in PGI too Leave alone the fact that medicines cost less elsewhere as compared to PGI, the same medicine is priced differently at the chemist shops within the PGI campus. Father of a new-born admitted at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit found that out on Thursday. <br />While the shop at the Emergency gave an estimate of Rs 160 for his requirements as prescribed by the doctor, he bought the same items for Rs 137 from the shop in the basement of Advanced Paediatric Centre. </div> </div>