All not well with wellness centres

Hyderabad: Nothing is well in the wellness centres in the city as the patients visiting these centres have to run pillar to post to get proper treatment as they are made to suffer with shortage of medicines and also missing specialist doctors coupled with the rude behaviour of the staff, providing an annoying experience. Some of the patients visiting the wellness centre near Khairatabad have shared their experiences with the facilities there. They alleged that the wellness centre is almost crowded every day and people have to wait for hours to get the check up from the doctors. While the wait is going to be long, the absence of specialist doctors like cardiologists and shortage of medicines is leaving the patients high and dry. The behaviour of the staff has also not been good, as the patients allege that they were being treated as if they were seeking free treatment.

In one of the wellness centres at Khairatabad, there is a shortage of important medicines. One of the heart patients, Kishore Singh (name changed), who came to get medicines was advised to take two doses instead of a single dose because of the unavailability of the medicine. “The doctor had prescribed Tonact 80, but the pharmacy gave Atorem 40 and advised to take this twice a day. Similarly, for another medicine, Torplat 90 mg, they gave Tiare, stating that this was a substitute. It is good if the medicines are given as prescribed by the doctor, at least for the heart patients,” said Kishore Singh.

Another patient said that the pharmacist in the wellness centre was giving the thyroid tablets loose. The entire medicine bottle should be given to the patients, but because of a shortage of the medicines, the patients were given the tables loose and were asked to come again to collect more. The centre has a CHC where the patient has to stay for treatment, but the patients were registering their names and going back to their houses with medicines, said another patient, K Vijay Kumar.

The Health Minister C Damodar Raja Narsimha has been directing the officials to send indent for the shortage of medicines, but the staff seems to be least bothered as one tablet or the other is not available.

The staff asks the patients to come again to receive all the medicines prescribed by the doctor. The officials said that the situation would improve after the start of the central medicine stores, as the government was planning to establish one CMS in every district.