On August 15 last year Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had announced that free medicines would be distributed through Government hospitals and health centres.
One year down the line, health activists have reminded the Prime Minister that there has been no progress on the announcement. In an open letter to Singh, the Jan Swasthya Abhiyan has raised fears that the programme may be “silently shelved”.
“…As you are preparing to address the nation on yet another Independence Day, we would like to remind you of the promise you made to the people of India, exactly a year back. We urge you to redeem this promise of making available free medicines in all public facilities and take immediate steps to implement such a scheme across the country,” says the letter.
The letter also recalls that the Health Minister had promised to provide Rs 1,300 crore to States for the purchase of medicines and setting up of a Central Procurement Agency for bulk procurement of drugs. “Unfortunately, these promises have not been realised. Instead, the budgetary allotment for the current year on the medicines scheme was a mere Rs 100 crore, though a realistic estimate would show an actual requirement of at least Rs 6,000 crore,” the letter says.
Citing the progress achieved in States such as Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Rajasthan, where free medicine schemes have been implemented, the letter says this shows that medicines procured in bulk by their generic names cost mush less than the market rates. “Reports from Rajasthan suggest that the scheme has led to considerable increase in the number of people accessing public health centres in the State,” it adds.
The letter, which is in the form of an online petition, laments that 65 per cent of India’s population does not have access to medicines that they need, despite the country being the world’s largest producer of medicines and exporter to over 200 countries.