All hospitals associated with the Government Medical College (GMC) have sufficient stocks of medicines to last for at least two months, GMC principal Parvaiz Shah said on 3rd September.


Further stocks that will last for another six months would be received before the end of the current month, he said. Shah said the Indian Red Cross Society J&K approached his office and offered to supplement stocks of specific kinds of medicines. He clarified that the offer was accepted, but stressed that no requisition was made to the organization. "The drugs mentioned in the IRCS communication are available with GMC hospitals in abundance," he said, adding that stocks of all drugs are sufficient for a period of two to three months at a minimum with some of them being available for six months.

Giving details, he said 2,68,343 vials of different kinds of antibiotics, including Cefuroxime and Amikacin injections, and 3,000 vials of Paracetamol infusion are available with the GMC. Vicryl is available for at least five months. Hospitals in Kashmir receive a major chunk of supplies from the J&K Medical Supplies Corporation Limited. The first half of annual supplies sufficient for the first six months are still sufficient to last for around two months.

The second half will be received before October as usual. An official spokesman said nearly seven lakh patients have visited OPDs in Kashmir hospitals in the last one month, with healthcare institutions successfully performing nearly 49,000 major and minor surgeries.

The data compiled by the Health and Medical Education Department for the month of August reveals that 46,449 patients have visited IPDs in various government-run healthcare institutions, while doctors successfully performed 4334 major and 44,236 minor surgeries respectively in peripheral and tertiary care hospitals, he said. He said 2,508 normal deliveries were conducted during August, while 3266 (LSCS) Caesarian sections were also performed across Kashmir hospitals.

In order to facilitate the smooth functioning of the healthcare institutions across Kashmir, the Heath and Medical Education Department provided facilities to the renal patients with 1078 dialysis procedures done in August. The Drug and Food Control Organisation also said that there is sufficient stock of essential drugs and other medical products in the Kashmir region.

The enforcement staff of Drug and Food Control Organisation conducted a thorough survey of retail outlets across the state and as per reports, there is sufficient stock of medical products available with dealers, the spokesman said. He said major companies operating in the Valley are providing regular supplies of almost all categories of drugs, including Antidiabetic (Human Insulin), Antihypertensive, Anticancer and other specialized categories of medical products, to their supply chain located across Kashmir.

Medicines worth Rs 50 crore have been supplied to various distributors in the Valley since July 20 to date, the spokesman added.