Chandigarh: Chandigarh health secretary Yashpal Garg has ordered a probe into an alleged doctor-chemist ‘nexus’ running at the Government Multi-Specialty Hospital (GMSH) in Sector 32 that forces patients to buy expensive drugs.
The health secretary visited the emergency section Saturday night posing as a 56-year-old patient, ‘Rajpal’, with a complaint of abdomen pain.
His report mentioned that he received complaints of a possible doctor-chemist ‘nexus’ running at the hospital which needed to be probed thoroughly.
While most of the doctors were working very hard and following all norms of ethics and highest professional standards, some were allegedly involved in this nexus, he said. For the time being, Garg said, he was not revealing their names.
“The undersigned, in the late evening of 15.04.2023, visited the emergency of GMSH16, Chemist Shops and Canteen within the campus. I remained there for about one hour from 10 pm to 11pm. Neither the undersigned disclosed his identity nor anyone could recognise. My PSO, in plain clothes, was following me from some distance and took some photographs…,” he wrote in the report released Sunday.
“There was comparatively less rush and about 6 or 7 persons were ahead of me in the queue. I have to wait for about 10 minutes to reach the desk of the doctor on duty. During that waiting, the female security guard allowed entry (without queue) to 2 patients who were on a wheelchair, which seems correct on her part.”
According to the report, Garg found that the doctor, without physically examining, prescribed a syrup that was available at the three chemist shops within the medical college campus at three different prices.
“Based on an ‘oral complaint of pain in abdomen’, the doctor prepared an OPD card form and prescribed one injection, and a Syrup ‘MCAIN’. He also informed me that the injection would be administered in the nearby room there and the syrup had to be purchased from a chemist shop.”
Garg noted that the doctor prescribed a specific brand which was at least 67 per cent costlier than the medicine he bought when the prescription was changed to one having the generic constituent salts of the medicine.
“The undersigned went to Chemist Shop 6 and presented the prescription. The Syrup ‘MCAIN’ was given for Rs 225. When asked for the bill, the shopkeeper firstly stared at me and then generated the same for Rs 227. The undersigned asked that he should have given the bill without asking for it. The shopkeeper replied that people generally don’t ask for bills and it was generated if specifically demanded for,” the report said.
After adding the names of the constituent salts of the medicine on the same prescription slip from the same doctor, “the undersigned also went to the Chemist Shop 7 and presented the prescription. The Syrup ‘RICAINE’ was given for Rs 135. When asked for the till, here also, the shopkeeper firstly stared at me and then generated a bill for Rs. 135,” the health secretary noted.
‘Rajpal’ was told by the chemists that the specific brand was available only at one chemist shop and not with the others.
This practice by the doctor was in violation of the National Medical Commission (NMC) guidelines issued in 2022 regarding prescription of generic medicines, the report said, adding that these guidelines were widely circulated to all these stakeholders in January.
Garg has sought explanation of the doctor concerned along with comments of the director, health services and the medical superintendent. He has also asked the drug inspector to report on the conduct of the chemists. Both reports have to be submitted within 15 days.
The health secretary pointed out that none of the three chemists was forthcoming in giving a bill of the medicines till it was demanded. He said that in one case, the chemist issued two separate bills bearing the same number when the prescription was changed and drug bought earlier was exchanged for a new one.
Garg also visited the canteen near the emergency section and reported that the tea he ordered was fresh and of good quality.
He, however, reported that there were issues of cleanliness in and around the canteen which needed to be sorted out. He also ordered the clearance of a public passage which he found littered with empty boxes and cartons, making it unusable for the public.
In January, Garg was given a commendation certificate for bravery during the Republic Day ceremony for bravery. The 2008 batch IAS officer, who also heads Chandigarh Housing Board, had given a successful cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to a visitor who collapsed in his office during a meeting due to a suspected heart attack.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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