Kerala government has set up an exclusive Corporation for storage and distribution of all essential medicines with the objective of ensuring their adequate availability in government hospitals and other medical establishments in the state. It has been set up on the same pattern of Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation which has earned a reputation for its efficient working since its establishment in 1995.

The newly formed Kerala State Medical Service Corporation has already invited tenders for purchase of medicines which will be opened on February 29. In the new set up, there will be medicine storage facilities in each district which will be well connected by a computer network. This will make the entire system transparent. Dinesh Arora has been appointed as the managing director of the new corporation.

The corporation aims to make available quality drugs and medicines to the poorest of the poor in the state through government hospitals and medical institutions without any interruption. There was widespread criticism from different quarters in the state over the non-availability of essential drugs in the government hospitals and other medical institutions in the state.

In fact, there were reports of acute shortage of medicines in the government hospitals in the state when the state was reeling under the threat of chickanguniya disease which took epidemic proportions in several parts of the state last year. Several experts in the medical field blamed the non-availability of medicines for the spread of the deadly disease in the state which was first reported in the southern part of the state.

Apart from the non-availability, there were reports of the substandard medicines being distributed in the government hospitals.

So far, a Central Purchase Committee (CPC), comprising senior officials from department of health services, department of medical education, finance ministry and drug department, was responsible for procurement, storage and distribution of medicines in the state.