A division bench of Justices Baidyanath Upadhyay and Deepak Raj Joshi, in response to a writ petition, issued the interim order on June 28, telling the hospital not to lease to private firms space on hospital premises set aside for pharmacies. The SC had also directed the hospital administration to run its own dispensary from July 17 onward.The privately-run dispensary has refused to vacate the space although the hospital administration has not renewed its agreement with it.
"We cannot even claim any money from the pharmacy as we don't have any written agreement with it," said Dr Sowyam Prakash Pandit, director of the hospital.
The hospital had earlier planned to let out the space at its premises set aside for pharmacies to a private firm for Rs 1.575 million per month.
"After we received notification of the SC order, we asked the private pharmacy operator to vacate the space," added Director Pandit.
Dr Pandit conceded that the pharmacy has been operating in full swing although the hospital is not getting any rent from it.
He further informed that even if the private operator vacates the space, the hospital will not be operating a pharmacy of its own. "We don't have manpower to run any pharmacy. The government has to give us the manpower if it wants us to run a pharmacy," Dr Pandit added. The hospital has around 1,500 people on its payroll at present. Of these, almost 50 percent are hired by the hospital development committee (HDC). HDC can hire pharmacists if the administration wishes to run its own dispensary.
Needy patients from across the country visit Bir Hospital for quality care at reasonable cost. Doctors from hospitals across the country also refer complicated cases to the hospital, which is a national referral center. However, private pharmacy operators as well as the hospital administration are known to be fleecing the patients, taking undue advantage of their dire situation.
Patients get up to 70 percent discount on medicines at pharmacies run by the TU Teaching Hospital and the Manamohan Cardiothoracic Vascular and Transplant Center.
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