Health Minister Adoor Prakash has said that the Kerala Medical Service Corporation (KMSC) will intensify market intervention to control the prices of essential medicines in the State.
He stated this in a note circulated to the media after the demands for grants in the Budget for his department were passed without discussion in the Assembly on Tuesday.
Discussion on the subject did not take place because of slogan shouting by Opposition members (to press their demand for action against the officer involved in the police firing in Kozhikode on Monday).
Mr. Prakash said the government had set up a panel of specialist doctors.
840 brands
The panel had prepared a list of 840 brands of medicines that were being prescribed by the doctors for various ailments.
The government had called the representatives of the companies manufacturing these popular medicine brands for meetings in Mumbai and Bangalore.
More meetings
After ascertaining the quantity of each medicine brand that had to be purchased by the medical service corporation, another meeting of the manufacturers would be called.
Mr. Prakash said these medicines would be made available to the patients at low prices through the medical stores of hospital development committees at all the government hospitals in the State and also through the ‘Neethi' and ‘Maveli' medical stores.
Special officer
He said the government had appointed a special officer to coordinate the works connected with the commencement of four new medical colleges in the State.
The government had already received his preliminary report.
In his note, the Minister gave a long list of items of work his department would do in all branches of health care (modern medicine, Ayurveda, Homeopathy etc.)
Dialysis
He said facilities for dialysis would be installed at the government hospitals in all the 14 district headquarters in the State.
