Four surgeries postponed; Gandhi denies drug shortage

Four orthopaedic patients at Hyderabad’s Gandhi Hospital were reportedly sent back from the operation theatre on August 28 after their scheduled surgeries were postponed. Their attendants told Namasthe Telangana that doctors cited unavailable anaesthesia medicines. The report also carried complaints that patients had sometimes been asked to buy medicines and surgical supplies from private shops. [1]

Gandhi Hospital’s anaesthesia department head, Dr A. Muralidhar, disputed the medicine-shortage claim. He said emergency surgeries were conducted as usual, there was no shortage of anaesthesia drugs, and some non-emergency procedures may have been deferred because of manpower constraints during Rakhi and consecutive holidays. [1]

The available material does not establish a hospital-wide shutdown, a hospital-wide drug shortage or negligence by the Telangana Health Department. It also does not identify the four procedures or provide stock records. The superintendent’s post was reported vacant, but the evidence does not show that this caused the postponements. Gandhi Hospital’s administration and the Health Department have not publicly issued a separate explanation in the material reviewed. For now, the record contains four postponed surgeries, one denial and rather less paperwork than patients deserve.