Darjeeling, Sept. 30: Faced with a severe shortage of life-saving drugs and medicines in health units across the district, the DGHC today said it would soon be forced to close all hospitals under its jurisdiction unless the state government salvaged the situation.

I.N. Pradhan, the DGHC executive councillor, health department, said: ?We are faced with a grave situation where the current stock of essential drugs and medicines will last, at the most, till October 10 in the district hospital. We fear that the out-patients department and other health programmes will have to be closed down after that.?

The gravity of the situation can be gauged from the fact that the DGHC councillor voiced the same concern for hospitals and block primary health centres in the three other subdivisions as well.

Pradhan said he had apprised Subash Ghisingh, the DGHC chairman, and the hill council?s principal secretary D.T. Tamlong of the impending peril.

?We wrote to the officials concerned in Calcutta immediately after coming to know of the crisis, but they have not even replied to our letter,? said Tamlong.

Though the health department is under the DGHC, the medicines still come from the central medical store, Calcutta, which is routed through the district reserve store.

Faced with the shortage of essential drugs, most patients are being forced to buy them.

Atanu Banerjee, the superintendent of Eden Hospital, which is a district hospital, said: ?What can we do? We have to ask the patients to buy medicines on their own since we have almost run out of stocks. However, in cases where the patients cannot bear the costs, we try and buy them the medicines from whatever funds the DGHC is releasing.?

Essential drugs like anti-biotics are in great demand at these hospitals.

T.N. Chattoraj, the chief medical officer of Darjeeling, said the government was aware of the situation.

?We have already released medicines for the months of April, May and June in the first instalment and then again for July, August and September. With a burgeoning population, there is always the possibility of medicines falling short,? he added.

According to him, the problem was primarily due to shortage of funds. ?We are yet to get funds for buying the medicines from the district reserve stores,? the official said.

A meeting with health officials has already been held at Calcutta a week ago, and the government was keen to solve the problem, claimed the chief medical officer.

?I met P. Chatterjee of the directorate of health services and he has promised to look into the problem,? he said.