Antibiotics: ‘Doctors taking a cut on injections’

GUJRANWALA: The Civil Hospital medical superintendent (MS) has ordered an inquiry into allegations that some of the doctors and other hospital staff ordered antibiotic injections from private medical stores for a commission instead of using the injections provided by the government to the hospital pharmacy. The medical superintendent warned those involved of strict action. According to a complaint submitted to the MS, more than 200 Zoxicillin, a broad-spectrum penicillin, injections provided by the government to the hospital pharmacy had expired because some doctors had insisted on ordering the injections from some private pharmacies. The complainant alleges that the staff and the doctors get a 25 per cent commission on an injection that they tell patients to purchase from medical stores. A Zoxicillin injection costs Rs380 and has to be administered thrice a day to patients who undergo surgeries of the ear, nose and throat.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 18^th, 2013.