The government will allocate more funds for the free generic drugs distribution scheme in the new financial year as the current allocation for the programme seems to be insufficient, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has said.
Inaugurating the referral system being introduced in four key specialties in the Government Medical College Hospital (MCH) here on a pilot basis from Tuesday, the Chief Minister said that the government intended to make quality medical care accessible to all.
Health Minister V.S. Sivakumar, who presided over the function, said that unlike before, the government was pushing ahead with the referral system in a very systematic manner. He claimed that more doctors were being posted and that the laboratories would now offer 24-hour service. New X-ray facility would be made available at the Peroorkada district hospital. The MCH would be allotted three more ambulances for facilitating the back referral system, he said. While the current out patient (OP) system in MCH would continue, a local OP clinic would be started at the SAT hospital, he added.
The Chief Minister also inaugurated a new mental health ward exclusively for adolescents in the Psychiatry Department of MCH.
