24 August, 2012
The GoI is planning to distribute free medicines across India through Government hospitals as also making such medicines available through Government stores at a nominal price.
The GoI model is inspired by the “Medicines Supply Corporation’ established in the State of Tamil Nadu in India, which procures generic medicines in bulk at almost 1/20th of the market price, and supplies them to the in-house patients in the Government hospitals. The Central Government is planning to set-up a similar ‘Central Procurement Agency’ (“CAP”) to procure generic medicines in bulk and at cheaper rates, to be distributed across India in cooperation with the state governments. The CPA will also be responsible for specifying uniform standards for procurement of the medicines, and to monitor the procurement process.
This ambitious initiative of the GoI is expected to take a couple of years of pre-implementation planning.
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