After Ganga Jal and subsidised pulses, soon your neighbouring post office will double up as a medical store selling generic drugs, vitamins and supplements at affordable prices.
The Government aims to reach out to the masses particularly those in the remote and inaccessible areas where health facilities are either poor or doctors are not available, a senior official from the Union Health Ministry told The Pioneer.
He said the Government will soon roll out this initiative aimed at making good quality generic medicines available at affordable prices through post offices, majority of which are in the rural areas.
India has the largest postal network in the world. With more than 1,39,000 Post Offices in rural areas, it provides support in various critical functions through communication, financial services, life insurance products and other retail services.
“We have already talked to the postal department and they are keen to start this. They have agreed to distribute vitamin and other supplements like Folic Acid and basic generic drugs mostly available over the counter,” the official added.
The post offices will also serve as information centres, disseminating information and alerts relating to health care. The post offices will also conduct surveys on health education services being offered to the citizens.
The move followed a meeting between Health Secretary CK Mishra and Communication Secretary Boyapati V. Sudhakar in this regard a few months back. It was decided then to implement the recommendations of group of secretaries as mentioned in the action plan for Department of Posts, said the official.
It was felt that services and network of the DoP can be leveraged for health care services.
Following the decision, Vineet Pandey, Chief General Manager (Business Development and Marketing Directorate) Department of Posts wrote to Additional Secretary (Health) AK Panda to take the matter further for implementation to reach out to the people.
The Government is already selling generic drugs through its Janausadhi stores spread across 600 districts in the country at affordable prices.
The Government is planning to take the total number of medicines available in these stores to 1,000. At present, around 500 drugs are available in these stores.