Bihar Leads the Nation in Free Medicine Distribution Under Nitish Kumar's Government

The Bihar government under the leadership of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has brought another glory to the state. Bihar has secured the first position in the entire country in implementing the free medicine scheme. The Department of Public Information and Public Relations has issued a press release. According to the release, essential medicines are being provided free of cost in district hospitals, community health centres, primary health centres, urban primary health centres and health and wellness centres. This scheme is applicable in 24 states of India, and their supply is being done uninterruptedly in all government hospitals and dispensaries of Bihar. Efforts are being made to keep the expiry date of medicines to a minimum and drugs are being supplied under DVOMS. Payments against supplies are also being made on time.

In 2006, Bihar adopted the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), a nationwide initiative launched by the central government in 2005. It aimed to provide affordable health services, especially in rural areas. Under NRHM, free drug distribution became an integral part of healthcare services in primary health centres (PHCs), district hospitals, and sub-health centres.

Launch of Free Medicine Scheme (2011-2012)

In 2011, the Bihar government recommended that states make essential medicines available free of cost in government hospitals as part of national health policy reforms. In light of the above, Bihar launched a More Structured free medicine distribution scheme which marked a significant milestone in the free medicine distribution system in government hospitals. Under the scheme, essential medicines were provided free of cost in government health facilities including Primary Health Centres (PHCs), district hospitals and medical colleges. The drug procurement system was reformed to ensure timely and transparent drug procurement and distribution. The Bihar government published an essential drug list (EDL) that was to be made available free of cost to patients. This list included common medicines for conditions such as fever, infections and chronic diseases. Procurement was centralized to ensure the quality and availability of the drug. The storage and distribution of medicines were improved across the state. • The free medicine distribution scheme ensured that essential medicines were available to patients free of cost in government hospitals ranging from district-level facilities to PHCs. The scheme focuses on ensuring the availability of medicines for common diseases and critical illnesses prevalent in the state.

Extensions under the Free Medicines Policy (2014)

In 2014, Bihar further expanded the availability of free medicines in government hospitals and took several important steps to strengthen its free medicine distribution system. The state government expanded the scheme to cover more medicines and more health facilities. The list of medicines provided free of cost was updated regularly, including essential medicines for maternal health, child health, chronic diseases and infections. The state’s free medicine policy emphasized the following:

• A comprehensive list of essential medicines that were required to be stocked and distributed in all government hospitals.

• Improving supply chain mechanisms to ensure that medicines reach all parts of the state.

• Efforts to eliminate stockouts and ensure that essential medicines are always available in rural areas and underprivileged communities.

• Various monitoring mechanisms were established to ensure that medicines reached the people they were intended for.

• To further improve accountability, a Real Time Drug Inventory Management System (DVDMS) was implemented to track the availability of medicines at various healthcare centres.