Parliament Question: Essential Medicines in Central Government Hospitals

GOVERNMENTOFINDIA MINISTRYOFHEALTH AND FAMILYWELFARE DEPARTMENTOFHEALTH AND FAMILYWELFARE LOK SABHA UNSTARREDQUESTION NO. 1107 TO BE ANSWERED ON24.07.2026 ESSENTIALMEDICINES IN CENTRALGOVERNMENTHOSPITALS 1107.ADV.PRIYASAROJ: Will the Ministerof HEALTH AND FAMILYWELFAREbe pleasedtostate: (a) the details of the availability of essential medicines in Central Government hospitals in the country during the last five years, year-wise and State-wise, particularly in Uttar Pradesh; (b) whether there are any instances of stock-outs being reported for such medicines, if so, the reasons for shortages of such medicines as identified in the Ministry reviews, if so, the detailsthereof; (c) the number of grievances received by the Government regarding the non-availability of medicines and out-of-pocket expenditure incurred by patients across the country, State- wise, particularlyinUttar Pradesh; (d) the key findings of inspections and monitoring reports regarding procurement and supply chainmanagement of such medicines; and (e) the corrective measures introduced by the Government relating to procurement, supply and monitoring to ensure the uninterrupted availability of essential medicines in the country? ANSWER THE MINISTER OFSTATE IN THE MINISTRYOFHEALTH AND FAMILYWELFARE (SHRIPRATAPRAO JADHAV) (a) to (e): ‘Public health and Hospitals’ are the state subject. However, under the National Health Mission (NHM), financial & technical support is provided to the States/UTs for strengthening their healthcare delivery system including support for provision of free essential medicines in public health facilities based on the requirements posed by States/UTs intheirProgramme ImplementationPlans(PIPs)within their overallresource envelope. Under Free Drugs Service Initiative (FDSI), Government of India supports procurement of drugs and strengthening robust systems of procurement, Quality Assurance,Supply chain management and warehousing, Prescription audit, grievance redressal, dissemination of Standard Treatment Guidelines and Establishment of IT enabled platform DVDMS (Drugs & Vaccine Distribution Management System) for monitoring the real status of procurementandavailability of essential medicines. Ministry of Health and Welfare (MoHFW) has recommended facility-type wise Essential Medicines List (EML) tobe made available at the public healthcare facilities which includes provision of a variety of free medicines related to diseases. The facility-type wise number of medicines in the EML includes 113 drugs at Sub Health Centre level, 179 at Primary Health Centre level, 301 at Community Health Centre level, 318 at Sub-district Hospital level and 381 drugs at district Hospital level. However, States have the flexibility to addmore medicines.Quality of drugs procuredmust be ensured byStates/UTs. The government has rolled out the Drugs & Vaccine Distribution Management System (DVDMS), an IT-enabled platform to monitor the procurement status and ensure the availability of essential medicines across the public healthcare system in real-time. Government conducts regular review meetings with States/UTs to address operational gaps, ensure maintenance of adequate buffer stocks, and strengthen grievance redressal mechanisms. The Central Government Hospitals follow the General Financial Rules, 2017 (GFR 2017), Manual for Procurement of Goods and other extant guidelines / instructions issued by the Government of India asamended from time totime for the procurementof medicines. The quality and uninterrupted supply of medicines in States/UTs is regularly monitored by the Ministry through various review mechanisms, including Common Review Missions (CRMs), Programme Review Meetings, field visits and inspections conducted by Centre andState/UTs authorities. ****