After NITI Aayog says UP healthcare worst in country, state minister takes stock of situation, suspends Azamgarh chief pharmacist

Uttar Pradesh: Health Minister Sidharth Nath Singh on Friday inspected the functioning of medical services in the state and took note of discrepancies in the health department. Singh suspended the chief pharmacist of a district hospital in Azamgarh and ordered a district level probe against a doctor in Mau, an official statement said.  According to the statement, pharmacist Harendra Yadav was suspended as his negligence led to the expiry of medicines worth over Rs 1 lakh. [caption id=“attachment_6902001” align=“alignleft” width=“385”] File image of Uttar Pradesh health minister Sidharth Nath Singh. ANI[/caption] “Health Minister Siddharth Nath Singh suspended Harendra Yadav, chief pharmacist of District Women’s Hospital of Azamgarh on the basis of District Magistrate’s report for his negligence which led to the expiry of medicines worth over Rs 1 lakh,” the statement read. Meanwhile, Singh, during the inspection of the District Hospital in Mau, ordered a district level probe against Dr A K Ranjan for prescribing medicines that are not available in the hospital pharmacy. The inspection comes less than a week after NITI Aayog, in its second health index, stated that Uttar Pradesh is the worst in terms of overall health performance. According to the ‘Healthy States, Progressive India’ released on 25 June, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra ranked high in terms of overall performance among the larger states, while the likes of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar ranked low on the index.