Now Reading: Tamil Nadu govt hospitals run short of surfactant for preterm babies
-
01
Tamil Nadu govt hospitals run short of surfactant for preterm babies
Government hospitals across Tamil Nadu are facing a shortage of surfactant medicines, a critical life-saving treatment for preterm babies. The shortage, persisting for several months, has been flagged by Special Newborn Care…
Government hospitals across Tamil Nadu are facing a shortage of surfactant medicines, a critical life-saving treatment for preterm babies. The shortage, persisting for several months, has been flagged by Special Newborn Care Units in hospitals across Theni, Dharmapuri, Tiruppur, Cuddalore, Tiruvannamalai, Vellore, Karur and Chennai districts.
Doctors said the medicine is essential to inflate the lungs of premature babies whose alveoli are not mature enough to function. Some centres are borrowing from neighbouring facilities or using SNCU funds to buy the drug privately. The Health Department said there was no procurement delay, attributing the shortage to miscalculated demand or higher utilisation at some centres.
The Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation has issued a six-month purchase order worth approximately Rs 9 crore, which it said would be supplied within two days. Officials said arrangements were made to send supplies from Coimbatore to Cuddalore, and the situation is being closely monitored.
Indian Opinion Analysis
Surfactant shortage in Tamil Nadu government hospitals is a recurring supply-chain problem rather than a one-off crisis. The TNMSC's bulk procurement model, meant to ensure cost-effective availability of specialty drugs, can break down when local neonatal units misestimate demand or when consumption surges unexpectedly. Unlike ventilators or CPAP machines, surfactant is a consumable that cannot be reused, and the margin for error is zero: a few hours without it can cause irreversible lung damage in premature infants. The six-month purchase order worth Rs 9 crore is a short-term fix, but the underlying issue is demand forecasting at the district level. The real indicator to watch is whether the TNMSC implements real-time stock monitoring across all 34 SNCUs in the coming months.
Source: thehindu.com
This brief was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
