Kerala to have online monitoring facility to check availability of medicines in govt hospitals

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 23: Amidst allegations of shortage of medicines in state-run hospitals in Kerala, a claim denied by the Left government, a monitoring system is expected to be introduced soon to keep track of availability and distribution of medicines in government-run medical institutions in the southern state.

The proposed introduction of the monitoring system was announced by Kerala Health Minister Veena George after inaugurating a training workshop here on ensuring availability and distribution of drugs in hospitals. The minister said that there should be a scientific system in place for dealing with storage and distribution of medicines and indent of drugs should be prepared taking into consideration the requirement as well as possible increase in each hospital.

She said that hospital employees should use the online system of Kerala Medical Services Corporation (KMSCL) to ensure availability of medicines. Real time data of medicines will be available through the special software once all the hospitals update the data regarding the distribution of medicines on each day, she said.

Through this system, it would be possible to know the medicine stock in a hospital and the drugs can be distributed according to their shortage, she added. She said that if there is deficiency of any drug by a certain percentage, it should be communicated to KMSCL so that medicines in short supply can be procured without any delay.

These measures have been brought in pursuant to news reports of alleged shortage or lack of medicines, even basic drugs, in some government-run hospitals. The Congress-led UDF opposition has also criticised the state government on the issue.