Kerala’s medical college hospitals are suffering from a lack of medicine and equipment.

Thiruvananthapuram: Medicines and equipment are in short supply at government medical colleges treating COVID-19 patients.

The acute shortage of medicines and equipment was reported in a communication sent by medical college officials to senior health department officials. Other government-run hospitals are also experiencing drug shortages.

The state’s medical colleges currently have 3,115 patients in intensive care and 1,210 others on ventilator support. It was discovered that medical schools lacked sufficient sedatives, ventilator filters, surgical caps, and 30 different tablets containing vitamin C, D3, calcium, and zinc for patients on ventilators.

The Kerala Medical Services Corporation (KMSC), which is in charge of procuring and distributing medicines and medical equipment, has failed to meet even half of the hospitals’ needs. The communication to the health department expressed concern about the safety of health workers who were forced to work without proper protective equipment.

The Kottayam Medical College Hospital, which requires one lakh pairs of gloves per week, received only 10,000 pairs in a fortnight. The KMSC falls far short of Thrissur Medical College Hospital, which does not even have glucometer strips.

Because the government did not allot the necessary funds, the hospital diverted Rs 1.5 crore from the Hospital Development Committee Fund to feed COVID-19 patients. The situation is similar at other medical schools.

The Medical College Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram was forced to purchase ventilator tubes and high security masks worth Rs 25 lakh using funds intended for other purposes. These, on the other hand, would only last two weeks.

There are no ventilator tubes at Kozhikode Medical College. Medicine shortages are severe in Alappuzha and Kollam medical college hospitals.

There is a drug shortage for black fungal care.

In addition, hospitals are experiencing a shortage of drugs used to treat mucormycosis, a black fungal disease.

A mucormycosis patient needs three grammes of medication per day for five days. Five milligrammes of the medication cost Rs 3,400. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that the drug was being procured and would be made available free of charge.