The government has decided to provide free medicines to people in the country. The $5.4 billion scheme would benefit hundreds of millions, who are not in a position to bear the heavy cost of the branded medicines for treatment.
As per the scheme, the doctors will soon prescribe free generic drugs to all patients. The hospitals from the cities to rural belt will follow the policy to provide the free medicines to people.
The policy was adopted last year, but could not be publicised. The doctors violating the rules under the plan, would be punished. Under the policy, the doctors will not be allowed to prescribe branded medicines.
The move would be a major disadvantage for the pharmaceutical giants in India. However, the initiative would improve the healthcare system in India where rural and poor people suffer to get medicines for treatment of their disease. Ultimately, either they opt for private clinics and spend a lot of money on medicines or prefer dying without medicines.
The country where 40 per cent people are living below the poverty line and spend $1.25 a day or less, the move would benifit them. The government believes that around half of India's 1.2 billion will take advantage of the scheme. The medicines will be of standard quality and those will be much cheaper than the branded ones.
However, the scheme will not be meant for the private hospitals and clinics. The policy will be a huge blow to the global drug makers like GlaxoSmithKline and Merck, who spend billions of dollars a year researching new treatments and target huge population in fast growing economies like India.
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