Govt Data Reveals-Only 321 Medical Stores against 3000 promised
New Delhi: The government promised parliament it would open 3,000 medical stores for the poor in the next eight months, but no more than a tenth of that number have opened over the last eight years, according to our analysis of government data.
The government has set March 2017 as the deadline for the new stores. Only 321 have opened since 2008, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Pharma PSUs (public-sector units) of India, which monitors the Jan Aushadi stores, or people's medical stores, started to supply generic medicines at subsidised prices to address India's persistent healthcare failures.
Inadequate public healthcare and healthcare expenses push an additional 39 million people back into poverty in India every year,a Lancet paper said.
Generic medicines are the same as branded medicines in terms of therapeutic value, but because they are off patent, they are cheaply produced by Indian pharma companies.
According to the latest budgetary data, Rs 149 crore has been set aside for 2016-17 to set up the medical stores nationwide: Rs 45 crore for opening stores, Rs 65 crore towards working capital and Rs 20 crore for computer systems and staff training.
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