Medicines distributed to patients without test reports

Statesman News Service

MALDA, April 2. — Medicines procured for the government hospitals in Malda have been distributed to the patients without sample-testing reports from the government laboratory ignoring the government guideline, officials alleged after the objection raised by the treasury department. Authorities said that the district health officials had procured medicines from the government’s prescribed establishments on June 2005 but its samples were sent to laboratory for testing in March only when the treasury raised objection. Though the bill of those procured medicines, valued at Rs 1.38 crore, has been passed by the district authorities it was decided to hold back the payment until the test reports from laboratory reached here. On 31 March, the day of the last financial year, top officials including the district magistrate passed the bill just to utilise the money but they did not take any risk by giving order of its payment. The treasury officer-II raised the objection to the bills submitted by the chief medical officer of health, based on the government order where it has been specifically mentioned that payment would be made after receiving the sample test report of the procured medicines. After detection of such gross violation, the district officials have raised a question that how did the health authorities distribute the medicines to government health centres for the patients without its test reports.? “The district health authorities did not send the samples of medicines to the laboratory for testing but were forced to do so after objections by the Malda treasury,” said a senior accounts officer. But the embarrassed Malda CMOH, Dr Gopal Sarkar, has refused to comment on it.