Delhi govt hospitals to soon provide 24X7 free medicines

The hospitals under Delhi government will provide free medicines round-the-clock to avoid any inconvenience to patients, officials said on Tuesday.

In the first phase, the facility will be provided at five hospitals -- Deen Dayal Upadhyay, Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital, Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital, Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital and Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital.

"The aim is make medicines available 24X7 inside the hospital premises so that patients do not face any inconvenience. Usually, they have to run from one chemist shop to another to buy drugs," Delhi health Minister Satyendra Jain said.

Last month, a team of Health Department officials of Delhi government visited AIIMS to examine the model. Besides, the Delhi government has also decided to outsource the maintenance of medical equipment.

"There are medical equipment which have not been working for a long time. Also, often some machines collapse, bringing the work at halt. To ensure smooth operation at the hospitals, we have decided to outsource the maintenance of medical equipment," Jain said, adding the Health Department has floated tenders for it.

As per the plan, Jain said there will be a central agency which will look after the maintenance of equipment.