Government mulling plan for free essential drugs to all

Government mulling plan for free essential drugs to all

NEW DELHi: A proposal to provide essential drugs free of cost to all patients is under government’s consideration in an effort to bring down out of pocket expenditure of an individual on health care, which is presently a whopping 86 per cent.

Quoting a WHO report, Health Minister J P Nadda told Rajya Sabha that out of pocket spending as part of private expenditure on health care is 86.3 per cent in India compared to 22 per cent in the US and 57 per cent in the UK.

The reason ..