KOCHI: The medical store at the Government Ayurvedic Hospital serves at least 300 to 350 patients daily and on most days, is run by a single pharmacist.According to the patients, they are made to wait for hours to get medicines. “Many of us are being treated for back pain. In spite of that, we are forced to wait in long queues bearing the heat and pain till we reach the counter,” said Ramesh, an employee at the naval base who is undergoing treatment here for back pain.Such sight is most common on Mondays due to the holiday a day before. “Installation of a fan here will reduce our woes to some extent,” said Shanti, a Vazhakala resident. According to the pharmacists, posting only two pharmacists in a crowded hospital is not realistic and there is a need to appoint at least one more person for the job. “There are only two people managing the counter and it gets difficult when one of us goes on leave. We are allowed only three minutes for a patient, but at times, it is not possible to keep the time-limit,” said P K Wilson, a pharmacist here.The situation gets even worse one of these pharmacists is deployed to some other pharmacy to meet the staff shortage there. Wilson, who is also the former president of Kerala Government Pharmacists Association, said that they had sent requests to the higher officials to post more pharmacists to the hospital but they are yet to receive a response.
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