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With silver prices almost doubling in the last one year, the supply of a crucial drug for burn injuries, with this metal as a component, has seen a dip.
The prices of the white metal have almost doubled from Rs 28,550 per kg last year to Rs 58,900 per kg, affecting the supply of silver sulpohurdizene (SSD), a drug used to prevent and treat infections of second and third degree burns.
Following the spiralling prices, Safdurjung Hospital has curtailed the free supply of the drug which has Silver as major component.
SSD relieves burning sensation and fights bacterial infection. The drug, which was earlier available for Rs 219, has risen to Rs 400.
“It's almost six months now that we have stopped the supply of SSD drug to patients. We ask them to buy it from outside as our stock is already exhausted,” a doctor with the burns department said.
The hospital had floated a tender for the supply of the drug but no supplier came forward to supply it at the rates quoted by the hospital with 50-bed burn wards.
Left with no option, authorities have substituted the drug with low-cost option of Soframycin.
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