From Tuesday, the hospital premises will have its own swanky private chemist, stocked with all vital medication, vaccines, drips as well as food and cosmetics for pets.

“A few years ago, when our dog was in the hospital, we noticed that many pets admitted here came from far. One family used to visit their pet everyday from as far as Kalyan. We’d see them go hunting around for medicines. The closest chemist in this area is at least a 20 minutes walk away. That's when we realized that the hospital premises needs its own chemist,” says M N Karkaria, owner of the chemist. The new medical store, called Delkash Chemist, will offer vaccines and certain medicines at a subsidised price, he added.

According to SPCA Secretary Colonel (Retd) J C Khanna, “Our premises used to have a medical store, but that shut down about three years ago. Ever since, the hospital too finds it difficult to get drugs at late hours. We often stocked medicines for a few weeks, which was very inconvenient. Now with the new shop we can stop storing medicines.”