By The Hindu Bureau
Copyright thehindu
Last minute disbursal of funds seems to have averted a possible crisis in many major government medical college hospitals (MCHs) which were anticipating a shortage of equipment as the Chamber of Distributors of Medical Implants and Disposables (CDMID) threatened yet again to stop the supply of essential supplies to the Cardiology department.
This is not the first time that the suppliers and distributors of critical cardiac accessories like stents, cardiac catheters and PTCA balloons are threatening to stop the supplies to the MCHs till the government cleared the pending bills amounting to crores which were due to them.
Two weeks ago, the government had stepped in to avert a similar crisis when the CDMID pointed out that it could not continue to provide supplies to government hospitals under various schemes as the pending bills had crossed over ₹158 crore.
The head of Cardiology department of Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram, one of the busiest Cardiology departments in the State, had written to the Superintendent recently, warning him about the anticipated shortage of cardiac accessories and the possibility of having to stop cardiac procedures if the suppliers could not be pacified.
Public hospitals in the State have been in a perennial state of stress for the past few years because of the shortage of drugs, equipment, implants, and surgical supplies which often forces hospitals to stop cardiac surgeries. The arrears that the government owes public hospitals as well as distributors of implants and stents as reimbursement for free treatment offered under the Karunya Arogya Suraksha Padhati has been mounting .
Every time a crisis hits, the government coughs up a few crores to pay part of the dues to avert the immediate situation.
Sources at the State Health Agency said that over the past two weeks, ₹223.73 crore had been released by the government through the SHA towards setting the dues of public hospitals under KASP and the Karunya Benevolent Fund, including $99 crore released two days ago. The current crisis over supply shortage has been averted, they said.
