India has made its first major move towards providing free medicines for all.
Health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has cleared Rs 1,300 crore under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scheme for states to support their purchase of medicines. The largesse will not only help buy general drugs for government-run hospitals but also those needed under the Janani-Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK).
Under the JSSK, all pregnant women delivering in public health institutions are entitled to free and cashless delivery, free C-section, exemption from user charges, free medicines, blood, consumables and diagnostics and free diet for three days in case of normal delivery and seven days in case of C-section. The minister has also asked the states to prepare a policy articulation document, an essential drugs list and standard treatment protocols and introduce a procurement system and supply chain management.
Officials said that states will have to procure drugs through an open tender. Companies applying for the tenders will have to have good manufacturing practices, compliance certificate, a no-conviction certificate and should have a specified annual turnover. The drugs will also have to carry a not-for-sale label printed on the packaging.
The ministry says upto 75% of private out-of-pocket health expenditure is on purchasing drugs of which 76% is spent on purchasing OPD drugs. The free medicines for all the programmes are estimated to cost Rs 28,560 crore during the 12th Five-Year Plan.
At present, the public sector provides healthcare to 22% of the country’s population and it is likely to swell to 52% by 2017 once medicines are provided for free from 1.6 lakh sub-centres, 23,000 primary health centres, 5,000 community health centres and 640 district hospitals.
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