As with education, every person in the country should have the right to health, said Chief Minister Oommen Chandy here on Thursday.
He was speaking after inaugurating the first phase of the free distribution of generic medicine at government hospitals. It was in matters of health that people expected assistance from governments, he pointed out.
Even though world-class healthcare was available in Kerala, it was accessible only to the wealthy. The government’s aim was to make such care available to each and every person in the State.
The Chief Minister said the Rs.. 320-crore scheme was aimed at making available generic medicines free of cost at government hospitals, along with 12 varieties of medicines for lifestyle diseases. A portion of the money for this would come from the one per cent cess levied on Excise tax. Next year, more funds would be required, he said.
Of the 952 categories of medicines that would be distributed free of cost, 825 had already been supplied to all medical colleges in the State and to the general hospitals in Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam and Kozhikode, Minister for Health V.S. Sivakumar said. Tenders had been finalised for the remaining 127 varieties of medicines. It would take two months to completely roll out the project. The biggest challenge as far as this scheme was concerned was the inability to predict the quantity of medicines required across the State. This is why the scheme was being implemented in phases, he said.
Medicines for diabetes, blood pressure, kidney ailments and mental ailments had been supplied to all primary health centres and community health centres for free distribution from Thursday. In the second phase, generic medicines would be supplied to the rest of the eight general hospitals and 15 district hospitals and later to all primary and community health centres in the State. The medicines were being distributed through the Kerala Medical Services Corporation.
One doctor in each hospital had been designated as the nodal officer to oversee the distribution of generic medicines.
In addition to this, there would be committees headed by Superintendents at medical colleges. The services of adequate numbers of pharmacists had also been ensured. The list of medicines made available at each hospital would be published. A software would be put in place to keep track of the stock. A computerised token system would be implemented at the distribution counters.
Steps had been taken to convert the Medical College Hospital, here, into a referral centre beginning on December 1, he added.
