Irfan Tramboo
Srinagar, Jan 12: The establishment of AMRUT stores is taking more than enough time at Government Medical College (GMC) Srinagar and its Associated Hospitals as only two major hospitals have been equipped with the facility so far, leaving the rest untouched.
The stores were supposed to be opened at all the hospitals in the Valley with major thrust on the GMC, Srinagar which is catering to the huge rush of the patients. However, as of now the stores have been made operational only at Super Speciality Hospital, Shireen Bagh and Bone and Joints Hospital (B&J), Barzulla.
It was given out in a meeting of officials with the higher-ups of the Health and Medical Education (H&ME) that the works on the AMRUT stores, to be opened across, was in full swing and the target of having the stores all across will soon be met.
However, leaving the peripheries aside, the establishing of the AMRUT stores is taking more than longer in the critical tertiary care situated in the Srinagar.
The opening up of the AMRUT stores was crucial in giving out the generic drugs to the patients which was in concurrence with the Drug Policy. However, the undue delay in starting the stores at the crucial GMC Hospitals is proving to be detrimental for the implementation of the Drug Policy in the Valley as there continue to remain loopholes on the ground.
With regard to the Jan Ashudhi stores, one such store meant to be set up at GB Pant Hospital in Sonwar for which all the formalities were carried out. Irony being that the spot has been identified more than year ago at the hospital but no works have been initiated till date.
Medical Superintendent of the Hospital, Dr Kanwarjit Singh, also told this reporter that the spot was identified. “However, nothing substantial has been achieved in this regard so far; the stores are yet to be started,” he said.
Further, one more AMRUT store was supposed to come up at SMHS Hospital in Srinagar, but due to the lethargic approach the concerned, the work has not moved beyond the civil works.
Principal GMC Srinagar, Prof Parvaiz Ahmad Shah, told the Excelsior that the works on all the AMRUT stores will be carried out in a phased manner and two of the stores have been already started.
“The civil works at the store to be established at SMHS have been completed and the work on the rest will be carried out in phases; the concerned are recruiting the manpower for the stores that will come up,” he said.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
