Hospitals get Rs 50 cr for free medicines

r Correspondent

PALAMPUR, January 14

Vipin Parmar, Health Minister, said here today that the state government had allocated Rs 50 crore for free medicines in hospitals.

He said a list of 320 medicines had been notified and these would be made available in hospitals and primary health centres.

Addressing newspersons, Parmar said the government had planned to extend social security to every citizen and the first step would be to provide medicines and treatment to everyone free of cost.

He said “Ayushman Bharat” had covered 21 lakh residents who would be given free medical cover of Rs 5 lakh. He said under this scheme, 175 hospitals had been empanelled. In case of superspeciality treatment, the government would transfer treatment charges to big health institutions like the PGI, Chandigarh, AIIMS and private hospitals. The main thrust had been on affordable healthcare.

He said in two years, the government had planned to convert all primary health centres to health wellness centres which would have with qualified doctors and nursing staff.

He asked doctors not to prescribe those medicines which were not available hospital stores. He said 400 doctors were under scanner for prescribing drugs in violation of the policy.

The Health Minister also warned chemists for their involvement in corrupt practices. He said the government would not hesitate in cancelling their drug licences. He admitted there was a strong nexus between doctors, chemists and pharma companies.

He warned doctors to discontinue such illegal practices and did not play with the lives of poor patients.