Medicines with less shelf-life supplied to Telangana Govt hospitals: CAG

Hyderabad: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has stated in its report that the Telangana Medical and Infrastructure Development Corporation had accepted nine essential medicines whose shelf life was less than 80 per cent, and supplied them to government hospitals in 2015-16.

This is the first CAG audit of the Telangana government after the state was formed, and comes amid several incidents being reported in recent months involving poor quality drugs and medicines past their expiry dates.

The report was tabled in the Assembly on Monday. The nine life-saving medicines had a shelf-life of between 46 and 75 per cent. The auditor found that 16 drugs without active ingredients had been procured by the corporation and supplied to government hospitals.

The auditors found that there was no place at the Adilabad central medical store, due to which the boxes were kept in toilets.

The CAG said there was no cold chain at the central medical stores at Adilabad and Warangal where the medicines could be kept in temperature-controlled environments due to which their efficacy was further degraded. Of the 635 essential medicines listed by the state government, 237 medicines were not supplied in time.