In a move to ensure easier and regular access to drugs in the government hospitals by patients in Karnataka, the state government is expected to allocate a separate budget during financial allocation in 2009 to set up retail outlets in 29 districts.

The decision to set up the retail outlets in all the 29 districts of the state came about after a proposal put forth by Dr BR Jagashetty, Karnataka drugs controller. If the proposal goes through it will be first of its kind initiative in the country, he said.

The key objective of these pharmacy outlets will be to provide easy accessibility of drugs for patients. The proposal to the State government was made much ahead of the Union government's intention to set up generic outlets across the country. In fact, the State drugs control department has not received any intimation on the same.

"Although, we have had preliminary discussion on the viability of pharmacy outlets in district hospitals, it was welcomed by the secretary of the Karnataka Health and Family Welfare department. Probably this may be mooted during next year budget," stated Dr Jagashetty.

"Since we are in the middle of this financial year, it is not possible for the State to make an allocation and hence decided to set-aside a separate budget for the same," he said. While the state drugs control department will provide the necessary licenses, the government will construct a dedicated facility for the same. The budget details will have to be worked out.

The outlets can be either totally owned government facilities or operated in partnership with any other government institution.

Right now, the drugs are being supplied to the district hospitals and the Primary Health Centres (PHCs) by the State Logistics and Warehousing. The patients also access the pharmacy outlets operated by the private sector which mushroom around the medical centres. "In order to make it more convenient for the patients, we decided that having a government owned pharmacy outlet within the hospital premises would help the patients considerably," he said.

The initial plan is to start one retail outlet in each district, this would be extended to other government run medical centres, once the operations are streamlined.

The outlets will be run by the state government. It will provide the range of drugs and also employment to the pharmacy graduates in the state. The setting up of the pharmacy outlets will be a boon for the scores of D Pharm and B Pharm graduates, informed Dr Jagashetty.

Currently, there are around 21,000 pharmacy trade outlets in the state. These outlets are all private efforts.