Free medicines for all from October

June 24, 2012

Manmohan_Medicine
New Delhi, June 24: India's ambitious policy to provide free medicines to all patients attending a government health facility across the country will be rolled out from October.

Strongly backed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself, the free-medicines-for-all scheme — being referred to as the "real game changer" — has received its first financial allocation of Rs 100 crore from the Planning Commission for 2012-13.

The entire programme, however, is estimated to cost Rs 28,560 crore over the 12th five year plan.

At present, the public sector provides healthcare to 22% of the country's population.

The ministry estimates that this will increase 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.

The ministry has sent the National List of Essential Medicines, 2011, (348 drugs which includes anti-AIDS, analgesics, anti-ulcers, anti psychotic, sedatives, anesthetic agents, lipid lowering agents, steroids and anti platelet drugs) to all the states to use as reference.

The states, however, have been asked to create their own Essential Drugs List (EDL), keeping in mind the diseases that worst affect them. Around 75% of the funds under the scheme will be borne by the Centre, while the rest will be the state's responsibility.

Around 5% of the district funds will be allowed to be used to purchase drugs outside the EDL. The Cabinet has approved the setting up of a Central Procurement Agency (CPA) for bulk procurement of drugs.

The PMO has asked the ministry to set up the CPA as early as possible. At present, 78% of the entire health expenditure in India is from out of pocket (OOP). Purchasing drugs alone accounts for 72% of this OOP expenditure.

Additional secretary in the ministry L C Goyal said a scientific committee will have to draw up the EDL list for the states.

They have also been asked to devise standard treatment protocols in order to avoid unnecessary and irrational treatments.

Goyal said, "The states will procure drugs directly from manufacturer or importer through an open tender. Companies applying for the tenders will have to have GMP compliance certificate, a no conviction certificate and should have a specified annual turnover. The drugs must carry a not-for-sale label printed on the packaging."

He added, "We plan to roll out the game changing programme from October."

Goyal said a district-level state-of-the-art warehouse will have to be set up by states to store the drugs and a passport driven system will move the medicines to district hospitals, CHCs and PHCs will then send the drugs to the sub centres.

He added, "It is being made mandatory for all doctors in the public sector to prescribe generic drugs and salt names and not brands. Action will be taken against doctors found prescribing brands."

Tamil Nadu has been providing free medicines in its public health centres for the past 15 years, while Rajasthan introduced it last October. Both these states have a corporation that runs the show with complete functional autonomy.

A Planning Commission panel had said drug prices have shot up by 40% between 1996 and 2006. It said that during the same period the price of controlled drugs rose by 0.02%, while those in the EDL increased by 15%. The price of drugs that were neither under price control, nor under the EDL grew by 137%.

The Commission says 39 million Indians are pushed to poverty because of ill health every year. Around 30% in rural India didn't go for any treatment for financial constraints in 2004. In urban areas, 20% of ailments were untreated for financial problems the same year. About 47% and 31% of hospital admissions in rural and urban India, respectively, were financed by loans and sale of assets.

States have cut down on spending to purchase drugs, adding to aam aadmi's woes. A study by the Public Health Foundation of India recently found that while India's per capita OOP expenditure to pay for healthcare costs has gone up from Rs 41.83 in 2005 to Rs 68.63 in 2010, the per capita spending on drugs increased from 29.77% to 46.86% during the same period, while hospitalization costs went up from 11.20% to 22.47%.

Outpatient expenditure also increased from 30.63% to 46.16%. Catastrophic spending, or percentage of households spending more than 10% of their overall income on healthcare, is nearly 15% in states that have insurance in place as against 11% in states that lack such policies.

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News Network
March 16,2024

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Budget carrier Air India Express has launched a new fare family, offering travelers the option to save on flight tickets by traveling light, with an increased baggage allowance of up to 40kg or no check-in luggage at all.

The new fare categories, applicable to flights to and from the UAE and other international destinations, are:

•    Xpress Lite
•    Xpress Value
•    Xpress Flex
•    Xpress Biz

Xpress Lite offers cabin baggage-only fares, making it the most economical option for passengers traveling with the airline.

Xpress Value fare includes 15 kg check-in bag fares, while Xpress Flex offers unlimited changes with no change fees. Xpress Biz features business class seats, complimentary meals, and priority services.

A subsidiary of Air India and a part of Tata Group, the airline introduced Xpress Lite on February 20 for UAE passengers who prefer traveling without check-in baggage.

Xpress Biz fares are accessible on all the new Air India Express Boeing 737-8 aircraft. Travelers can benefit from increased baggage allowances of 25kg for domestic flights and 40kg for international flights when booking Xpress Biz fares. This fare offers priority check-in, baggage, and boarding services.

Air India Express is already operating aircraft with Biz seats across 70-plus routes in India.

In a previous interview with a news channel Aloke Singh, managing director of Air India Express, stated that the carrier was looking to increase capacity to the Gulf region, including the UAE, as well as to provide better connectivity to Gulf travelers.
 

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News Network
March 14,2024

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The high-level committee on simultaneous elections, chaired by Ram Nath Kovind, on Thursday met President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan and submitted its report on 'One Nation, One Election'. The report comprises 18,626 pages.

Home Minister Amit Shah was also present at Rashtrapati Bhawan when Kovind led panel submitted the report.

"Simultaneous polls to Lok Sabha and state assemblies can be held in first step, followed by local body polls within 100 days in second step," reported PTI quoting the panel.

"Synchronised polls for all three tiers of government to improve governance architecture, in line with quest of aspirational India," it added.

The report has been submitted 191 days after the constitution of the panel on September 2, 2023.

It's further reported that the proposal also puts focus on having a singular electoral roll for holding Lok Sabha, state assembly and local body polls.

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News Network
March 19,2024

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New Delhi, Mar 19: The Supreme Court today came down heavily on Patanjali Ayurved for failing to respond to a contempt notice for issuing misleading advertisements and ordered yoga guru Ramdev to appear before it.

A bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah also summoned Patanjali managing director Acharya Balkrishna.

The Supreme Court last month pulled up Patanjali for prima facie violation of its assurances about its products and statements claiming their medicinal efficacy. The court had issued a notice to Patanjali and Balkrishna, asking why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against them.

It noted today that Patanjali did not file a response even though it had held a press conference after its previous order. "Why haven't you filed your response yet? We will ask the managing director to appear in the court during the next hearing," the court said.

The order states both Ramdev and Balakrishna were prima facie in violation of Sections 3 and 4 of the Drugs and Remedies Act, which deal with misleading ads of medicines.

The court also issued a contempt notice to Ramdev, co-founder of Patanjali, and asked him to explain why he should not face action for contempt of court.

Senior lawyer Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Patanjali Ayurved, opposed the move and sought to know, "How Ramdev comes into the picture?"

"You are appearing. We will see on the next date. Enough," the court replied.

"We had our hands tied earlier but not now. As an officer of the court, you (Mr Rohatgi) should know your position," said Justice Amanullah.

The court was hearing a petition by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) alleging a smear campaign by Ramdev against the vaccination drive and modern medicines.

On February 27, it had issued a contempt notice to Patanjali and cautioned them against from making any statements against any system of medicine in the media. It had also pulled up the centre for not taking action and said they were sitting with their eyes closed.

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