BHUBANESWAR: Even as the AYUSH Ministry and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) have started working together on validating four Ayush formulations against Covid-19, drugs worth `8.56 crore purchased in December last are gathering dust in the State.
Around 40 varieties of ayurvedic drugs, including Sanjibani bati, Anu Taila, Laxmi Vilas and Triphala churna, which were suggested by the Ministry as immune boosters against coronavirus, were procured by the State Directorate under the National AYUSH Mission (NAM).
While some of the districts have received their share of drugs, several others like Rayagada, Koraput, Nabarangpur, Boudh, Kandhamal, Jagatsinghpur and Cuttack are yet to get their quota as the packets are stuck with a courier service, sources added.
Drugs arriving in the rest of districts are piled up on respective District Ayurvedic Medical Officer (DAMO) campuses instead of being dispatched to Ayurvedic hospitals and dispensaries. As the State Government enforced lockdown since March 23, sources informed, the drugs could not be distributed. It has resulted in patients deprived of treatment and medicines as Ayurvedic hospitals and dispensaries are closed after nearly 1,000 doctors were engaged in Covid-19 management.
The State, currently, has 620 dispensaries in 30 districts besides five hospitals. The DAMO offices do not have any wirehouse facilities and with a cyclonic storm expecting to trigger heavy rain, officials feared the drugs might get damaged.
“Some of the ayurvedic drugs, with an year’s expiry date, will be dumped as more than five months have passed since procurement. No one knows when the dispensaries will reopen for patients. Under these circumstances, drugs worth crores of rupees will go waste,” said an official.
Meanwhile, the Director of AYUSH has shot off letters to DAMOs asking them to submit stock entry certificates of the drugs. Doubting the motive behind it, a DAMO wondered how the certificates can be when the drugs are yet to be dispatched to the dispensary. “The packets have not been opened. We are yet to ascertain quality of the drugs,” he said.
With drugs worth crores left unutilised, the Directorate has decided to purchase another drug worth around `22 lakh for piles without tender. Director Bibhu Prasad Sarangi did not respond to calls and messages from this paper.