The Indian
government has said that it will make available free drugs in public
hospitals in a bid to reduce the amount that patients spend out of their
own pockets, which is tipping tens of thousands of households across
the country into debt or poverty each year.
India’s health ministry is working with state governments to
replicate nationwide a model for the free distribution of essential
drugs at public health clinics and hospitals that has been successfully
implemented over the past 15 years by the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
The national government will cover 80% of the cost of the
programme, which public health experts and health economists estimate
will require about 60 billion rupees (£730m; €890m; $1.16bn) a year over
the next five years.
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