J-K govt mulls use of pvt labs to test medicines for hospitals

Rattled by the high exposure of people in the state to spurious drugs, the Jammu and Kashmir government is now considering a proposal to rope in private labs to test the medicines supplied to government hospitals.
"Explore the possibility of roping in registered private labs for testing government hospital supplies, including injections," Minister of State for Health, Shabir Ahmed Khan, told Drug and Food Control Organisation officials during a meeting here today.
The minister said the government had flagged health as a priority sector with efforts now on to upgrade medical infrastructure in the state.
The minister added that the government was also trying to bring more transparency and accountability to the working of health institutions in the state.

Turning to the problems faced by those living in the border and remote areas of the state, the minister said that many of them were poor and found it difficult to make a trip to urban health centres.
Thus, "it is important that health centres operating in (remote) areas are provided adequate staff and equipments," Shabir said.

He also stressed on the need for the state to properly implement the Centrally-sponsored National Rural Health Mission (NRHM).
"The NRHM is a flagship scheme whose proper implementation in rural areas would go a long way towards addressing the healthcare needs of the people," he said.

Shabir said there was a need to ensure timely procurement of essential, preferably generic drugs, as per the drug policy and noted that the distribution of medicines and supplies to health institutions should be made on the basis of the patient load at each.