Tsunami medical aid still in Medan hospital

Tsunami medical aid still in Medan hospital

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan

The Food and Drug Monitoring Agency in Medan found on Thursday
that medical supplies meant for tsunami victims at Pirngadi
Hospital, that came from a US nongovernmental group Project Hope,
were partly being used to treat regular patients.

According to a member of the agency's audit team, Flora Sari
Siregar, all of the medical supplies -- separated into nine
groups, including antibiotics, antiseptics, analgesics as well as
influenza and cough medicines -- could still be used as they
would not expire until 2007.

She said the expensive medical supplies were of good quality,
and included such antibiotics as Zithromax, Unasyn and
Vibramycyn.

The agency has not yet completed counting the worth of
medical supplies piling up at the hospital, which treated many
tsunami victims coming from as far as Aceh after the disaster,
but estimated the amount would reach billions of rupiah.

"Our audit shows that these expensive medicines are being used
by the hospital's management not to treat tsunami victims but
other patients at the hospital. So far we don't know whether the
medical aid was being sold (by the hospital)," Flora told The
Jakarta Post on Thursday.

She said the audit, which started four days ago, was conducted
following information from the public that there were medical
supplies meant for tsunami victims at the hospital.

The hospital's secretary, Muhammad Norman, confirmed the
presence of the supplies, saying that the hospital received them
in the middle of this year from Project Hope.

He said that the hospital earlier turned down the medical
assistance since it was no longer treating tsunami victims but
then took it after Project Hope insisted.

"The medical supplies are still here with us but some can no
longer be used since they have already expired," Norman said.

When asked whether the drugs were being used to treat regular
patients, he confirmed this, but added that it was being
specially used to treat poor patients.

"Some of the drugs have been used but we are giving them to
poor patients for free. None of them are being sold," Norman
said.

But he was not sure how many of the drugs had been used to
treat poor patients. "I forget the amount but this can be
checked," Norman said.