Punjab Chief Secretary Anurag Verma on Friday conducted an unannounced inspection of Mohali Civil Hospital to verify the proper implementation of the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s announcement regarding free medicines for patients in all government hospitals. Notably, Mann, a day before, had announced that free medicines will be provided in all state government hospitals.

During his visit, Verma engaged with patients exiting the Civil Hospital, seeking feedback on whether they had received all prescribed medicines free of cost. Patients unanimously confirmed that they had indeed received free medicines, expressing appreciation for this commendable initiative by the government.

Verma highlighted that the Health Department, in collaboration with doctors, has compiled an Essential Drug List (EDL) containing 276 drugs. Rate contracts have been established for 90 per cent of these drugs. For the remaining medicines and those prescribed by government doctors, Senior Medical Officers (SMOs) will procure them from the market, ensuring patients do not have to bear any expenses for the prescribed medicines.

To facilitate this, the Chief Minister has approved Rs 25 crores. The financial powers of SMOs have been raised from Rs 25,000 to Rs 2.50 lakhs to facilitate the purchase of these medicines.

The Chief Secretary emphasized that this system has been implemented across the 23 District Hospitals, 41 Sub-Divisional Hospitals, and 161 Community Health Centers in the State.