TEAM HERALD
TIVIM: The Casarvannem Health Centre in Pernem has been accused of destroying vast quantities of tablets which were meant for distribution to people in its jurisdiction. The local MLA and Speaker Rajendra Arlekar has decided to undertake a probe in the matter.
According to sources, a large stock of tablets for various purposes had arrived from the Centre as part of a national scheme. These tablets, which were reportedly manufactured on March 13 and due for expiry only in August 2014, were to be distributed free of cost by the hospital staff to the people in the jurisdiction of the health centre at Casarvannnem.
However on Thursday night, a large amount of these tablets were reportedly destroyed by setting them on fire in the backyard of the health centre and the staff on Friday allegedly prepared a report stating that these tablets had been already distributed to the people and that, their stock is over.
When he was alerted of the incident, the PHC’s Visiting Committee Chairman Sanjay Devidas rushed to the health centre and confronted the Health centre staff.
“The staff was unable to give any satisfactory explanation to this grave incident,” Devidas informed.
“It’s totally unacceptable that the hospital staff destroyed the tablets. They should also have known that burning of tablets is harmful to health,” said Devidas.
“If any tablets were surplus, they could easily have been sent elsewhere. In any case, our people should have been given the tablets in the first place. There should be some action initiated in this matter,” demanded Devidas.
He further stated that he had collected samples of the burnt tablets and would hand them over to local MLA and Speaker Rajendra Arlekar to highlight the situation at the Casarvannem Health Centre.
When contacted, Arlekar confirmed that he was made aware of the alleged incident after Devidas had spoken to him in the matter.
“I could not get in touch with the hospital medical officer in this connection, but I will go to the PHC on Saturday to ascertain the facts,” assured Arlekar.
When contacted, Director of Health Services Dr S Dalvi said that he would inquire into the incident.
