Haryana notifies AYUSH policy

The Haryana government today notified the Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) Medicine Procurement Policy, 2016 which aims to ensure a free and uninterrupted supply of high quality medicines in the state.
Every batch of medicines would undergo testing before it is distributed through government hospitals, 'swasthay kendras', dispensaries, 'panchkarma' centres and National Health Mission (NHM) institutions in the state, officials said.
In view of a directive by the of Union Ministry of AYUSH, medicines having World Health Organization (WHO) certification or AYUSH Premium Mark would be preferrably procured, the official said.
A spokesperson of the state's Ayush ministry said that the policy suggests preparation of standard lists of medicines, approved sources for procurement, quantification of demand and budget for procurement.

The procurement would be made out of the standard lists of medicines and these lists too would be reviewed by the technical committee of the department at least once a year, the spokesperson said.
He said that the essential drugs and medicines required for implementation of key government schemes would preferably be procured from Central and state public sector undertakings, pharmacies under state governments or cooperatives having arrangements for manufacturing AYUSH medicines.

Medicine supplied would be received at a ware house located inside the premises of AYUSH Directorate in Panchkula, the spokesman said adding that every batch would undergo testing before it is distributed. Random sampling of drugs would also be done.

An online system would be set up to closely monitor demand generation, procurement, supply and consumption process by December 31, 2017 or earlier.
If any supplier fails to meet the standard quality, that particular would be liable to replace the entire consignment. There are other penal provisions also incase firms fails to execute the supply order within the stipulated period or the quality of the product is not upto the mark, the official added.