Jaipur : Rajasthan government has achieved great success. The state has secured the first position in the country in terms of distributing free medicines across the state. It is being praised all over the country. The free medicine scheme has fulfilled other parameters including the number of approved medicines, available rate contract, availability of medicines in different medical institutions. Dr. Neha Giri, Managing Director of Rajasthan Medical Services Corporation, says – “This ranking was released by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare regarding the operator of the free medicine scheme. In which the state has been at the forefront with 76.78 points in June 2024. Telangana remained at second place with 75 points.
Information is collected through the dashboard
1828 medicines are approved in the free medicine scheme operated in the state. According to Neha, Managing Director of Rajasthan Medical Services Corporation, the Drugs and Vaccine Distribution System Dashboard was created by the Government of India in April 2019. Through this, information about the progress of free medicine schemes in the states is collected. About 10 parameters have to be fulfilled, including the number of medical institutions, stock of medicines, online supply, quality checking, expiry rate of medicines, time taken to supply the medicine.
When did the free scheme come to Rajasthan?
Rajasthan was the first state in the country to start a free medicine scheme for patients in 2011. The then Congress government of Ashok Gehlot had come up with this scheme. After this, other states of the country followed in its footsteps and adopted the scheme, which benefited the people there. Many types of medicines are made available to patients in government hospitals. Such as tablets used for TB. Medicines for other small and big diseases are also given.
