By In a concerning revelation, the Auditor General’s report unveiled that a staggering 349 million rupees worth of defective medical supplies, including medicines, surgical instruments, and laboratory equipment, were discarded from government hospitals in 2022.
The report underscores a glaring oversight within the Medical Supply Division (MSD), where no mechanism exists to evaluate the efficacy of certain drugs before their distribution to hospitals. As a result, these defects remain undetected until after patients have already been administered the affected medications.
Furthermore, the Auditor General’s Department highlighted a persistent shortage of healthcare professionals, with a total of 1,331 vacant doctor positions, 77 dental surgeon positions, 2,034 nursing officer positions, 136 medical laboratory technician positions, 68 occupational therapist positions, 126 pharmacist positions, and 270 auditor positions.
