Story in numbers: Bitter Pill

Medicines continue to be out of reach ofss the poor, despite government promises that it would make the drugs cheaper.

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government told Parliament it would open 3,000 medical stores for the poor in eight months but only a 10th of that number have opened over the past eight years, according to an analysis of government data.

March 2017 is the deadline set by the government for new stores. Only 321 have been opened since 2008, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Pharma PSUs (public-sector units) of India, which monitors the Jan Aushadhi stores, or people's medical stores, started to supply generic medicines at subsidised prices to address India's persistent health care failures.

Generic medicines are the same as branded medicines in terms of therapeutic value but because they are off patent, they are cheaply produced by Indian pharma companies.

About Rs 149 crore has been set aside for 2016-17 to set up the medical stores nationwide: Rs 45 crore to open stores, Rs 65 crore towards working capital, and Rs 20 crore for computer systems and staff training, according to the latest budgetary data. More than half of India's rural population uses private health care, which is four times as costly as public health care, and can cost the poorest 20% of Indians more than 15 times their average monthly expenditure.

Source: IndiaSpend