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Morphine runs out of stock: The Telegraph
Kolkata, Mar 31: Morphine, the only analgesic that helps the terminally-ill cope with pain, is out of stock in drugstores across the city. The shortage is most pronounced in stores attached to state run-hospitals.
Kolkata, Mar 31: Morphine, the only analgesic that helps the terminally-ill cope with pain, is out of stock in drugstores across the city. The shortage is most pronounced in stores attached to state run-hospitals.
For the past four months, oncologists have been prescribing non-narcotic drugs for pain management, but without success.
“When all medicines fail, only morphine can ensure a pain-free existence to a cancer patient. Unfortunately, with the stocks running dry, all we can do for them is sympathise and pray,” said Subir Gangopadhyay, head of radiotherapy at Medical College and Hospital.
The drug is generally available in the form of a syrup (Rs 75 per 100 ml) and 5-mg tablets (Rs 4-5 a strip), and is one of the cheapest and most effective palliatives available for cancer patients.
Apart from morphine, there are a few non-narcotic analgesics, but doctors are not too happy with their efficacy. The other alternative is a trans-dermal fentanil patch which, pasted on a patient’s body, works for three days. “These patches are expensive (Rs 450-plus), but we are forced to prescribe them to patients who can’t bear the pain,” said oncosurgeon Gautam Mukhopadhyay.
Medical College had stocks brought in from Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute. “But that isn’t possible all the time,” Gangopadhyay pointed out.
Morphine stocks have disappeared from the medical stores, with only two or three stores in Calcutta selling the drug. But with the demand rising, there is little they can do.
Kalyan Bhattacharya, head of radiotherapy at NRS Medical College and Hospital, said: “Many of my patients keep coming back with complaints that they cannot get the drug in Calcutta.”
Kajol Gomes, a wholesaler of cancer drugs, including morphine syrup, says stringent narcotic laws and low margins of profit were acting as deterrents for pharmacists to pile up stocks.
“There is a lot of headache involved, like keeping regular tabs on prescriptions, the names of patients, copies of all documents and other records, which need to be kept ready for verification,” Gomes elaborated.
Brushing aside allegations of pushing non-narcotic drugs in the market by not keeping stocks of morphine, Bipin Mehta, president of the Bengal Chemists and Druggists Association, said it was up to the government to help pharmacists by relaxing the stringent rules on the drug.
“Several pharmacies also complain of bitter experiences with people trying to blackmail them into selling the drugs without prescriptions,” Mehta added.
R.N. Meena, zonal director of the Narcotics Control Bureau in Calcutta, said “misuse” of the drug was rampant, forcing the authorities to conduct surprise raids from time to time. “But it is up to the stockists to keep the drugs, which we do not discourage at all,” Meena asserted.
For the past four months, oncologists have been prescribing non-narcotic drugs for pain management, but without success.
“When all medicines fail, only morphine can ensure a pain-free existence to a cancer patient. Unfortunately, with the stocks running dry, all we can do for them is sympathise and pray,” said Subir Gangopadhyay, head of radiotherapy at Medical College and Hospital.
The drug is generally available in the form of a syrup (Rs 75 per 100 ml) and 5-mg tablets (Rs 4-5 a strip), and is one of the cheapest and most effective palliatives available for cancer patients.
Apart from morphine, there are a few non-narcotic analgesics, but doctors are not too happy with their efficacy. The other alternative is a trans-dermal fentanil patch which, pasted on a patient’s body, works for three days. “These patches are expensive (Rs 450-plus), but we are forced to prescribe them to patients who can’t bear the pain,” said oncosurgeon Gautam Mukhopadhyay.
Medical College had stocks brought in from Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute. “But that isn’t possible all the time,” Gangopadhyay pointed out.
Morphine stocks have disappeared from the medical stores, with only two or three stores in Calcutta selling the drug. But with the demand rising, there is little they can do.
Kalyan Bhattacharya, head of radiotherapy at NRS Medical College and Hospital, said: “Many of my patients keep coming back with complaints that they cannot get the drug in Calcutta.”
Kajol Gomes, a wholesaler of cancer drugs, including morphine syrup, says stringent narcotic laws and low margins of profit were acting as deterrents for pharmacists to pile up stocks.
“There is a lot of headache involved, like keeping regular tabs on prescriptions, the names of patients, copies of all documents and other records, which need to be kept ready for verification,” Gomes elaborated.
Brushing aside allegations of pushing non-narcotic drugs in the market by not keeping stocks of morphine, Bipin Mehta, president of the Bengal Chemists and Druggists Association, said it was up to the government to help pharmacists by relaxing the stringent rules on the drug.
“Several pharmacies also complain of bitter experiences with people trying to blackmail them into selling the drugs without prescriptions,” Mehta added.
R.N. Meena, zonal director of the Narcotics Control Bureau in Calcutta, said “misuse” of the drug was rampant, forcing the authorities to conduct surprise raids from time to time. “But it is up to the stockists to keep the drugs, which we do not discourage at all,” Meena asserted.