Updated: Sun, 30 Nov 2025 05:30 (IST) There is a severe shortage of medicines in Delhi government hospitals, forcing patients to buy medicines from outside. Contrary to what the Health Minister claims, essential medicines are not available in hospitals, causing problems for the patients. The problem is even more serious for poor patients, as they cannot afford expensive medicines. The hospital administration is silent on this matter. There is a severe shortage of life-saving medicines in Delhi government hospitals. Jagran Correspondent, New Delhi. Despite Dr. Health Minister Pankaj Singh’s claim that there is no shortage of medicines in hospitals, the acute shortage of essential and life-saving medicines in Delhi government hospitals is becoming a serious health crisis. Remove Advertisement Only Read News When the injured were brought to the hospital on the day of the Red Fort blast, the hospital management had to borrow medicine and surgical material from the Jan Aushadhi Center on the campus to maintain treatment arrangements. This shows that the ground reality of the Delhi government’s claims that there is no shortage of medicines and goods in government hospitals is contrary to this. A Serious Humanitarian Problem: The drug crisis in Delhi’s government hospitals is not just an administrative lapse, but has become a serious humanitarian problem. The difference between government claims and ground reality puts the whole system in the dock. The question of the patients who reached the hospital is simply, ‘When it is the responsibility of the government to supply medicine to the hospitals, why should we buy medicine from outside?’ In major government hospitals of the national capital, patients are not getting important medicines related to heart, brain, kidney and infections. Whatever is available is also not complete. The main reason for this is the slowness of the central purchasing system, delay in the tender process and the demands of hospitals that are not met on time. The management of the government hospital blames it on the lack of timely supply of medicines. Although the list of essential medicines was sent months ago, the supply is not according to the demand. What happens is much less than the question. Patients are paying the price for untimely tenders by the Central Purchasing Agency, long delays in supplies and non-updating of supplies in hospitals. Crisis in Lok Nayak and GTB Hospital Most of the life saving antibiotics like Meropenem, Vancomycin, Piperacillin-Tazobactam are not easily available in Lok Nayak Hospital. In most cases, patients are asked to bring it from outside, ICU doctors say that the patient should buy injections from outside, while they should be available free of charge in the hospital. The GTB is no less worrying. According to hospital doctors, the stock of Clopidogrel, Atorvastatin, Heparin injection and insulin and metformin required for heart and stroke patients and insulin and metformin for diabetes patients are repeatedly running out, but the stock is not as per the requirement. According to doctors, many times the situation became so bad that the medicine of heart patients had to be stopped. Shortage of medicine has become a problem. Patients who reached GB Pant and DDU hospitals said that non-availability of renal erythropoietin and phosphate binder and levetiracetam and phenobarbitone for neuro patients had become a problem for them on several occasions. Not only this, it becomes difficult to get medicines like paracetamol syrup, amoxicillin syrup, cough syrup and salbutamol and formoterol inhaler which are essential for asthma treatment. Patients and their family members claimed that some important medicines like Linezolid and Ipravent syrup were not included in the list of essential medicines, while other medicines like them should have been included. Because they are practically the most necessary. In this matter, when the health minister of the Delhi government sent a written message on WhatsApp three days ago asking for information in this regard, he did not give any response. Instead of answering the question, he set a timer to delete WhatsApp messages within 24 hours.