Drugs distribution system at SGPGIMS praised by Tripura HC

The Hospital Revolving Fund, brainchild of doctors at the city-based Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences has earned praise from the Tripura High Court for the system, which allows distribution of cheaper and quality drugs to its patients.
In a PIL order, Chief Justice of Tripura Deepak Gupta has directed the state government "to examine the system of distribution of medicines being followed in the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow whereby the department itself sells medicines at a nominal profit 10 to 15 per cent."
The system devised at the only tertiary care institute in Uttar Pradesh in 1997, allows it to provide cheaper and quality drugs to patients within the hospital without incurring any expenditure on hospital funds, as they are able to recover operational costs through nominal profit.

For example Gemcitabine, a life-saving chemotherapy medicine which costs nearly Rs 10,000 in open market is given to the cancer patients at Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGI) for mere Rs 3,344 through its innovative Hospital Revolving Fund (HRF) system.
"Adhering to the directions given by the Tripura High Court a two-member team of senior officers from Agartala, Tripura, Dr Subhasis Debbarma, Joint Director of Health Services and Ranajit Kumar Nandy, are on a two-day visit to SGPGIMS to study the HRF system of the institute, so as to adopt the same in their state's hospitals," hospital's Senior PRO Monalisa Choudhary said here today.

She said the system is simple, transparent and accountable and finalises the rate contract for drugs and surgical consumables through a national open tender, where all the reputed and multi-national companies dealing in pharmaceuticals and surgical consumables participate.
"This has met the essential requirement of the drug and surgical consumables for the hospital at a most competitive rate. The same is thus provided to all indoor patients, diagnostics, procedural centres, OT, ICUs, OPD and emergency patients at reasonable rate i.E. Much lower than MRP by 10 to 40 per cent," she said.
The system is economically viable and self-sustainable with complete activity online, user-friendly, and has flexibility to provide newly-introduced medicines to all the patients, be it a case of kidney transplant, liver transplant, bone marrow transplant, cardiac catherisation.