The MCG, along with the health department and a pharma company, will on Saturday launch Haryana’s first such fair-price pharmacy — Affordable Medicines and Reliable Implants for Treatment (Amrit) — in Gurugram, where medicines, particularly for cancer and cardiovascular diseases, will be available at prices three times less than the market rate.
Union health minister JP Nadda will inaugurate the Amrit pharmacy at Mahaveer Chowk near the Gurugram bus stand and the diagnostic laboratory in Sector 39, officials said on Friday. This is part of the Union government’s plan to open 300 such pharmacies across the country.
“All medicines at the pharmacy will be sold at subsidised rates, upto 60% of the MRP,” said an MCG official. “Anyone with a prescription will be able to make purchase at the pharmacy. And though it will stock drugs for all diseases, it would especially focus on easy availability of medicines for cancer and cardiovascular diseases,” he added.
Though the diagnostic laboratory will be inaugurated on Saturday, it will be operational from April. “All kinds of diagnostic test facilities will be available at the centre. The rates for the lab will be the same as applicable under the Central Government Health Scheme,” said the official.
The first Amrit pharmacy was opened at AIIMS in Delhi in 2015. The project was launched by the Centre in association with state-owned HLL Lifecare limited. However, in many places, these pharmacies were reported to be inefficient in handling the demands. And given Gurugram’s size, many say, it might prove to be the same case here as well