The district is all set to get its first centralised drug warehouse soon as the government has finally allocated two acres in the city for its construction along Tirupur-Dharapuram highway.
To be set up by the Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation Limited (TNMSCL), the new dedicated storage facility will speed up the issuance of medicines to District Headquarters Hospital, seven government hospitals, 44 primary health centres, seven government veterinary hospitals and 45 government veterinary dispensaries.
“At present, these institutions are dependent on the warehouse at Coimbatore for the supply of drugs,” Joint Director of Health G. Thirumalaisamy told The Hindu . Official sources added that the proposed warehouse in Tirupur would have vast storage space and provided with heavy racking system for avoiding wastage of space.
Lack of adequate storage facility has been one of the biggest hurdle been encountered by the health officials at present in the district especially when it comes to getting vaccines like the one against rabies in large quantities. For scientific and efficient handling of the drugs, hydraulically operated hand-trolleys and sophisticated stackers will be placed in the warehouse.
Dr. Thirumalaisamy said the health department is in the process of computerising the health management systems in the district which, in turn, would enable the government sector medical institutions to place the request for requisite quantity of drugs from the TNMSCL warehouse through online.
“The computerisation will also help the district-level officials like Joint Director of Health to monitor the stock position of drugs in each of the hospitals on a daily basis with ease,” he added.
