Jail debt forces closure of pharmacies
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, October 24 2012:
Failure of jail authority to clear dues to two pharmacies supplying necessary drugs to inmates of Sajiwa Jail and Manipur Central Jail has forced the closure of the drug stores.
An official source disclosed that many inmates, who have been detected with several illnesses, were treated at various Government hospitals.
Budget of Rs 5 lakh and Rs 4 lakh have been allocated annually for jail administration in respect of Manipur Central Jail and Sajiwa Jail respectively.
There are altogether 85 prisoners in Manipur Central Jail including 22 foreigner convicts, 24 under trial prisoners while there are around 700 prisoners in the Sajiwa Jail.
Huge expenditure is sometimes incurred on treating inmates including the costs for undergoing various laboratory tests.
In times of major operations to be carried on inmates, the expenses shore up.
As such, the jail authority has to struggle with the meagre annual budgetary allocation.
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Since the jail authority could not bear the expenses, the two pharmacies were relied on by the authority for procuring medicines for the sick inmates.
Usha Medicos and TM Pharmacy located at RIMS Road had been supplying medicines to the jail inmates since long time back.
The jail authority has a pending debt of Rs 12 lakh to the two drug stores.
As the authority could not clear the dues, the two pharmacies had to close their shops.
The Finance department has been apprised of the matter umpteen times and urged to allocate more budget.
This apart, the matter has also been highlighted to the Home department.
Nevertheless, no positive action has been taken towards this end.
There is one doctor at Manipur Central Jail while there are three doctors at Sajiwa Jail.