Using stents beyond expiry date has once again come as a wake-up call to the government to step up its monitoring mechanism.
Placing the demand, Tamil Nadu Government Doctors’ Association’s State president K. Senthil said here on Monday that there was an urgent need to check all types of drugs used in government and private hospitals.
Speaking to reporters, he said that after the expose of use of invalid stents on patients under the Chief Minister’s Health Insurance Scheme in Madurai, the police had initiated criminal action.
However, from the patient’s point of view, safety was to be accorded much more attention by the government. When Tamil Nadu was rated high in providing health systems, such lapses caused a dent in the image and functioning of the system, Dr. Senthil said and called for stepping up fool-proof checks.
When most of the drugs were manufactured outside Tamil Nadu, the agencies should be vigilant and check the batches of drugs at random before they reached the terminal users. Officials in the Drug Controller’s offices across the State had very little infrastructure facilities. Hence, by providing them their basic needs, accountability could be fixed. In the present condition, expecting them to check for inferior or substandard drugs might not be proper, he said.
Stern action sought
The TNGDA demanded stern action against defaulters, be it wholesale dealers or hospitals or any other stakeholders, he said, and added that they were watchful on the quality of drugs and their expiry date. The government should examine the modalities of setting up exclusive squads to monitor drugs, he suggested.
