Mohali, July 31 -- Three days after conducting a surprise inspection at Dera Bassi civil hospital and finding irregularities in the distribution of free medicines, civil surgeon, Dr Sangeeta Jain, convened a meeting on Wednesday with senior medical officers of various government hospitals in the district, and directed all doctors to prescribe only generic medicines.

Dr Jain emphasised that there is no shortage of essential and emergency drugs in any government health facility across the district. She stated that no patient should be compelled to purchase medicines from private chemist shops.

During an inspection on July 27 at the Dera Bassi civil hospital, Dr Jain found irregularities in medicine distribution and asked the senior medica...