Gujarat Health and Family Welfare Department recently allocated Rs.78 crore for the procurement of medicines under Central Medical Stores Organisation (CMSO) scheme which allows supply of medicines free of cost to all of the Government hospitals in the State. Through this allocation the state government plans to intensify its drive by facilitating supply of quality medicines to the weaker section of the society.

This allocation will come into force in the state with effect from this financial year i.e. from April 1. Last year, the government had allocated Rs.45 crore to the CMSO which has around 100 plus drugs including life saving drugs in the list of its essential medicines.

According to Dr H G Koshia, commissioner, Gujarat FDCA, “Every year, the government has been increasing the budgetary provisions allocated for this scheme, so that more medicines can be procured under CMSO for the benefit of the poor in the state. As the drug regulatory authority of the state, our main aim is to ensure public safety, thus we make it a point to ensure that all the drugs that are procured under the scheme are safe and efficacious for the use of public at large.”

He informed that the medicines under the scheme, which are procured through open tender are examined by the FDCA officials and send for analysis at the Baroda Food and Drugs Testing Laboratory for checking their efficaciousness before they are dispersed.

To further upgrade the functioning of the procurement, storage and distribution of drugs in the state, Government has planned to decentralise its office. Dr Koshia informed “At present CMSO operates through its office in Gandhinagar, but through de-centralisation, the government plans to open deports at every district of the state which will help in better dispersing of medicines to the government hospitals.”

Four regional warehouses at Amreli, Jamnagar, Patan and Surat are also being commissioned so that the storage and distribution of drugs can be effectively made. He further informed that drug deliveries in all the four regional warehouses have already started and that the up gradation of these regional warehouses with respect to storage equipments and machineries is done using NRHM fund.

Recently, a team of health officials from CMSO was sent to Tamil Nadu to study the functioning and modus operandi adopted by the Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation (TNMSC) in dispersing medicines to the poor in the same lines. At present TNMSC is considered to provide one of the best drug procurement services in the country by the central government.

CMSO which is exclusively run with the support of government exchequer was set up with an initial investment of Rs.5 crore for the procurement of quality drugs, surgical items and medical equipments at economical rates. CMSO provides medicines for almost all the diseases except for those, for which, the Government has already provided a separate scheme like for malaria, malnutrition etc.