NEED FOR FRESH POLICY INITIATIVES AND NOVEL APPROACHES IN THE FORMULATION OF STATE MEDICINES POLICIES FOR VARIOUS INDIAN STATES

BACKGROUND:

Healthcare is a state subject in India. Most of the state medicines policies of Indian states contain provisions relating to selection, procurement, storage, distribution and rational use of medicines but there is lack of uniformity in policy components and many state medicines policies lack vital provisions relating to spurious drugs, drug abuse, unethical promotion and prescribing, drug licensing, drug recall, AYUSH drugs control, drug safety monitoring etc.
OBJECTIVES:
To make a comparative analysis of policy components of the state medicines policies of six Indian states, make necessary interventions for fresh policy initiatives in the formulation of maiden drug policy for the state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and suggest new policy initiatives for other Indian states.
STUDY DESIGN:
Policy evaluation study of state medicines policies of six Indian states.
SETTING:
Study examines the various policy components of the medicines policies of six Indian states.
STUDY POPULATION:
Drafts of state medicines policies of six Indian states were randomly selected for the comparative analysis based on their availability on worldwide web.
METHODS:
State medicines policies of six Indian states viz., Chattishgarh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, J&K and West Bengal were retrieved from the internet and analyzed for presence or absence of various policy components. Subsequently, necessary interventions were made to evolve fresh policy initiatives in the formulation of first drug policy of J&K state.
OUTCOME MEASURES:
Fresh policy initiatives and novel approaches in state medicines policies.
RESULTS:
Many policy initiatives suggested were accepted and some rejected by the govt. of J&K state and qualitatively, a better policy could be evolved for the state.
CONCLUSION:
Paper demonstrates the need for fresh policy initiatives and novel approaches in the medicines policies of various Indian states through sustained lobbying, persistent advocacy and logical interventions.