On October 2, 2011, under Ashok Gehlot, the Rajasthan government initiated a free medicine scheme for patients taking treatment at government hospitals, and today Rajasthan is ranked 1st among all the other 16 states in implementation and operations of the free medicine scheme.
The National Health Mission has taken the initiative to provide rankings to the states and assist and encourage them in giving free medicines under the free medicine scheme to all public health facilities in order to reduce high expenditures on medicines and make them available for the needy.
Health Minister Raghu Sharma said that they have added 104 new medicines and taken the count to 712 from 608 in order to update the existing medicine scheme. The new medications recently added are for the treatment of cancer, kidney, and heart problems.
In April 2019, the Government of India developed the Drugs and Vaccine Distribution System (DVDMS) dashboard to monitor and assess the free medicine scheme in all the implemented states.
The assessment carries 100 marks, and the ranking is based on multiple parameters like the number of medicines stocked, online supply, supply time, status of expiry, quality testing, and the number of medical institutions included under the scheme.
According to the information from the Drugs and Vaccine Distribution System (DVDMS) dashboard, Rajasthan has achieved 76.78 marks and secured 1st rank, whereas Telangana has 75 marks and is second on the list. Rajasthan has secured the most number of points in all the parameters and hence has the top position.
According to the official data, Rajasthan has about 1828 medicines accepted under the free medicine scheme. The health department was informed through a letter from National Health Mission director Manoj Jhalani that Rajasthan has secured the top position in the free medicine scheme.
Rajasthan has bagged the top position according to the ranking released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, said Neha Giri, Managing Director of Rajasthan Medical Services Corporation. Giri was taking note of all the government hospitals to ensure that the scheme reaches and benefits the people in need.
(Input from various media sources)
(Rehash/Dr. Siddiqua Parveen/MSM)