Mumbai: The issue of shortage of medicines in civic hospitals was raised at the Standing Committee meeting of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday. Corporators cutting across parties said they supported the administration’s plan to launch a crackdown on the errant medicine suppliers. After the BMC recently blacklisted a medical supplier/contractor, members of the All India Food and Drug Licence Holder (AIFDLH) Association met civic chief Praveen Pardeshi over the issue. They told the commissioner they would go on a strike and stop supplying medicines to hospitals if the BMC continued blacklisting the contractors.
The issue got heated after the association challenged the decision of the civic body and also alleged medical superintendents of 17 peripheral hospitals, 33 maternity homes and 112 dispensaries, who had been pulled up over shortage of medicines at the facilities, had faced no action apart from being served a single show-cause notice by the BMC. Ravi Raja, leader of the opposition in the BMC, said the association met Pardeshi and threatened a strike. “The blacklisted medicine suppliers should be punished under the Maharashtra Essential Services and Maintenance Act (MESMA). The administration has done a good job of taking action against the medicine suppliers/ contractors and we support them,” said Raja.
