PCB hospital officials accused of buying drug illegally

In an alarming allegation against officials of the Pune Cantonment Board (PCB) hospital, some politicians have claimed a drug named Doxinate is being purchased illegally by issuing fake prescriptions.

PCB Chief Executive Officer Rachel Koshy ordered an inquiry against Resident Medical Officer (RMO) S Mahajan and his team at Sardar Vallabhai Patel Cantonment Hospital after politicians of the BJP, the Shiv Sena and the RPI - the Mahayuti alliance - complained against the inappropriate usage of medicines by the hospital authorities.

"This is the cruellest thing one can expect from a hospital which is supposed to carry out live saving functions. The drug ‘Doxinate', which is given to pregnant women treating nausea, was being purchased from medical stores through false prescriptions," Shashidhar Puram, chairperson of BJP's labour association said.

Puram said that the prescriptions have been given to women who are not even pregnant and are either working in the hospital or are related to some official working in PCB.

"One of the prescriptions has been issued in the name of Mrs Baravkar, a 46-year-old teacher at Ghorpadi Village High School. As per records, she was teaching when a prescription was issued in her name. In another case, an official of PCB hospital, Meeta Gaikwad, has been prescribed Doxinate when she is a divorcee since the past four to five years," Puram said.

He added that an external audit is required to check what has gone wrong at the hospital.

"These malpractices need to be stopped at the earliest. I have asked the CEO to come up with the documents and prescriptions, which will reveal the wrong doings by the authorities," Puram said.

According to the chairperson of BJP's labour association, these incidents took place in December last year and since then they have been writing applications to the authorities, but to no avail. The hospital officials he claims are not bothered in the least about investigating the matter and therefore he is compelled to bring the issue to the notice of the general public.

The Mahayuti is currently demanding immediate suspension and inquiry against the RMO. Koshy has sought justification for the act, and Mahajan submitted a report to her.u00a0

The other side
Resident medical Officer S Mahajan refused to comment, saying he was not authorised to talk on the issue. He said he had submitted a report to the CEO. PCB CEO Rachel Koshy, who is currently in New Delhi, was unavailable for comment despite several attempts to contact her.