MUMBAI
Health officials blame it on paucity of medicines due to change in govt policy.
Atleast 35 people, mostly adults, have died of various infections, including swine flu, at Warud in Amravati district in a month, with seven deaths occurring in the past 24 hours. The town, which is famous for its orange cultivation, is around 100 km from Nagpur.
Health officials blamed the high casualty number on a recent policy change. The government centralised purchase of medicines for public hospitals earlier this year citing corruption at district levels but did not place orders for essential drugs in the past four months, leading to a major crunch at rural hospitals and primary health centres in at least 14 districts of the state.
At least eight deaths were due to type A-H1N1 virus or swine flu, which WHO says, is in its post-pandemic period, the officials said.
“There is always a brisk flow of patients in the monsoon,” Pramod Poddar, who heads the 30-bed Warud Rural Hospital, said. “But this year, mortality has shot up due to several factors,” he said, adding, “We are operating a daily OPD of 400-500 patients.”
Heavy rain this year has triggered outbreaks of viral fever and water-borne illnesses across Vidarbha. Over 25 patients from various parts of central India, including Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, have died at the government medical college and hospital in Nagpur since the beginning of monsoon, authorities said. Warud is the latest hotspot.
The outbreak of viral fever is compounded by a severe paucity of medicines, local MLA Anil Bonde, an MD in medicine, said. “The rural hospital did not have even paracetamol,” he said, adding, “We had to provide essential drugs from the funds we raised.”
Health officials said they had been begging for medicine supply, but to no avail.
Health minister Suresh Shetty had reportedly instructed the chief surgeon of Amravati to procure medicines locally, but he denies having received any such written order. The district collector was instructed to release Rs20 lakh for the health exigency, but sources in Amravati said it took him a month to get technical clearance.
Recently, district guardian minister Rajendra Darda visited Warud and promised help, but structural problems have not yet been fixed.
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