Public drug centres at panchayat samitis soon, says minister

JAIPUR: public drug centres will be first opened at panchayat samitis under the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana

AJAY SINGH KILAK ,

People living in rural areas will soon get medicines at cheap rates with the help of cooperatives, state cooperative minister Ajay Singh Kilak said on Sunday.

He said public drug centres will be first opened at panchayat samitis under the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana. Talks are on with Bureau of Pharma PSUs of India (BPPI) and National Yuva Cooperative Society Limited, and the centres will be started soon after an agreement with them, a release from the department said.

Apart from a consumer association, the state has 36 district cooperative consumer stores and more than 270 sale-purchase cooperatives, the minister said. The department is identifying people who are willing to engage in drug business in rural areas and have adequate resources for the same, he added.

The centres will have more than 600 life-saving drugs, over 150 surgical items and other consumable products. The prices of the drugs and items will be 50-90% less than their market prices. Kilak said the villagers are often unable to get medical treatment because of lack of money, but things will change with the opening of the public drug centres.

Abhay Kumar, principal secretary, cooperative department, said the objective of the centres is to minimise people’s healthcare expenditure. The centres will provide quality generic medicines at cheap rates and the government is trying to ensure that nobody is denied the right to good medical treatment.

Veena Pradhan, administrator at the consumer association, said three public drug centres are being run at Jaipur, Jhunjhunu and Jodhpur. About 100 panchayat samitis have no drug sales centre of a cooperative institution, she added.