Nagpur: In an incident mistaken for crime and malpractice, the anti corruption Bureau has arrested two doctors – a woman lecturer and a resident doctor here from the Government Medical College premises in an alleged case of selling to the patients, the drugs meant for free supply. However, later it turned out that the concerned injection named Avastin given to the diabetic patients for strengthening their vision, was not the part of medical supply. These doctors had allegedly asked the skin of the patient to arrange for the injection from outside but the aggrieved relatives reported the matter to the ACB sleuths who in turn arrested them without delving deeper into the prescription and its supply status. The doctors who faced the action include resident doctor Swananand Parmar and woman lecturer Dr Vandana Iyer.
Sources revealed that since the Avastin injection is not in supply at the Government Medical College, the doctors at Department of Opthalmology often suggest the patients to buy it from the medical shops outside the premises. It turned out that the practice was being followed for last many months. The patients also do not mind buying it from outside, but this time writing the prescription boomeranged on the two doctors.
In a haste, the relatives of the concerned patient approached ACB officials who arrested the duo on the charges of accepting the bribe.
Shockingly, it surfaced that these two doctors were deliberately targeted for not being a part of this ‘supply chain.’ The Avastin injection costs Rs 24000, which contains 4 ml dose. Every single patient requires 0.1 ml and hence a single bottle is used for injecting 8 patients. Since such a small quantity cannot be sold loose, the patients are allegedly being charged Rs 3000 each as the doctors use the drug from their side. The ‘deal’ is struck after an understanding is made between the patient’s relative and the doctors. They often accept this deal as it is the convenient and cost friendly way to get the dose.
Meanwhile, many doctors at the GMC condemned the action by ACB. Director of Medical Education and Research Dr Praveen Shingare told Nagpur Today that there are 4000 resident doctors in the college and there was nothing wrong in adopting such a practice for facilitating the patients. ACB should not have acted against it, he added. The Head of the Opthalmology Department Dr Ashok Madaan clarified that the concerned drug, for which the kin alleged of taking bribe, was not the part of supply at the hospital.
Meanwhile, the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) has also expressed dissent over the matter. President, MARD said that the doctors were not doing anything wrong but were only following the instructions of the department. He also said that they would knock on the court’s doctor to ensure justice is delivered.
