Himachal to open generic medicine stores

The state government will open generic medicine stores in two medical colleges in Himachal Pradesh on a pilot basis, state Health and Family Welfare Minister Kaul Singh Thakur said Tuesday.

"Initially the generic medicines stores will be opened in the Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital in Shimla and the Rajendra Prasad Medical College in Tanda town, and subsequently these will be opened in all zonal hospitals," he said.

Presiding over the review meeting of the health department regarding National Health Programmes being implemented in the state, the minister said all the health institutions would be computerized in a phased manner.

The hill state made it mandatory for doctors in government hospitals and dispensaries to prescribe 191 identified generic rather than certain branded drugs from Dec 1 last year.

The government has prepared an essential drugs list comprising 314 formulations which would make available 430 drugs to the patients.

To know the highest prescribers of certain branded drugs, the government is soon to periodically audit doctors' prescriptions, a senior health official said.