Newmai News Network Imphal | May 31 Much to the relief of patients especially from the economically weak section, the Manipur government will bear almost all the medical tests from July 1 in government medical institutes/centres. Announcing this on Wednesday, Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh said that from July 1, 2017, almost all the tests done at Government medical facilities including Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS), Imphal and Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Imphal would be free of cost. Speaking as chief guest at the World No Tobacco Day observation held at JNIMS auditorium today, the Chief Minister said that the Government had identified 57 different tests for the said purpose. He informed that that no one has to pay a single Paisa for these 57 notified tests, which include all blood tests, X-ray, CT scan, all tests for pregnant women and children etc. All Government facilities including RIMS, JNIMS, District Hospitals, CHCs and PHCs would offer all the notified 57 tests free of cost, he added. The Chief Minister further said that the second initiative of the Government is that a partner for free diagnostics is being selected through a fair open tender process, which is duly assisted by the NHSRC under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, for providing free diagnostic facilities to further support the State’s free diagnostics initiative. The partner would set up additional testing labs and enable free testing facilities which would be supported by the National Health Mission, he said and added that the public would not be charged a single Paisa for the tests that would be rolled out by this partner. The Chief Minister informed that the tender is in an advanced stage and the whole process would be rolled out in the next 3-4 months. Once this is fully functional, no one has to pay for any of the notified 57 tests, either at the Government’s health facilities or at the facilities of the partner. This would be a step that would directly benefit the poor people in the State, he added. Biren further said that the third initiative that the State Government intends to take is to drastically increase the supply of free medicines through Government health establishments. “Recently, we had launched the Jan Aushadhi stores selling generic medicines, where cost of generic medicines is much less than the branded medicines. We are now going to increase the free drug supply from about 100 medicines to over 300 types of medicines, which would cover almost all ailments,” he said and urged the Health Department to fast track the tender process so that the additional free medicine supplies can commence within the next three months. With this initiative of free diagnostics and free drugs and medicines, the cost of treatment would be negligible, if not totally free, he added. Speaking on the impact given to the society by rampant abuse of tobacco, the Chief Minister apprised that the State Government is set to ban smoking in public places under Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA), 2003 at the earliest. Stating that the State Government had already announced ban on sale of all types of tobacco items except cigarette long time back, the Chief Minister spoke on the need to strictly implement the said prohibition. He further stated that the State Government would continue the ongoing drives against intoxicants and tobacco items.
