Bhubaneswar: Amid reports of shortage of medicines to meet rising cases of conjunctivitis, the Odisha government has claimed that there are adequate stock of eye drops to meet the demand.
The Health and Family Welfare department, in a tweet on Sunday, said there are adequate stocks of antibiotic eye drops available in Nirmaya stores as well as private pharmacies in the state.
The department’s tweet came in the wake of reports that there is shortage of both antibiotic and steroid eye drops in retail shops. The drops with compositions like moxifloxacin, ofloxacin, gatifloxacin, levofloxacin, moxifloxacin and ciprofloxacin besides Ocupol DX, which is a combination of two antibiotics (chloramphenicol, polymyxin B) and a steroid (dexamethasone) are not available in the medicine stores, they added.
The chemists claimed that there has been a sudden rise in the number of conjunctivitis cases. “Whatever stock we had is finished and there is no supply from the stockists. We have placed the order, but do not know when the eye drops will be available,” TNIE quoted Abinash Senapati, a chemist at Ashok Nagar in Bhubaneswar, as saying.
Meanwhile, the department has issued an advisory for the people to prevent contacting the air-borne disease. It has advised the people to follow the guidelines to stay safe from conjunctivitis:
- Do not touch eyes with unclean hands
- Do not rub eyes with bare hands in case of irritation
- Do not share articles with affected persons
- Do take advice of a medical practitioner
- Use medicines as directed by physicians
- Use separate towels and pillowcases from other family members if you have conjunctivitis
- Throw away old eye cosmetics
- Avoid the cause of the allergy
