Home Delivery of Medicines from Railway-run Hospitals in Works

Refer : https://scm-bps.blogspot.com/2021/04/reimbursement-of-opd-medicines-tele.html

RAILTEL LIKELY TO INVITE BIDS

Home Delivery of Medicines from Railway-run Hospitals in Works

Twesh Mishra

New Delhi: Indian Railways is in talks with online pharmacy platforms to facilitate home delivery of medicines from hospitals under its administrative control, officials told ET.

Public sector undertaking RailTel Corporation of India Limited (RailTel) is likely to invite bids for offering this service in January 2025, the officials said, adding that bids would be on the discount offered on the retail price of medicines.

“This service can be extended to all government-owned hospitals if successful,” a senior official said, adding that deliberations have also been held with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on this issue. Railways provide medical and health services to about 10 million beneficiaries through 129 hospitals and 586 health units. These largely provide service to the railways’ regular employees, pensioners, and their family members.

“Beneficiaries need to physically come to railway hospitals and health units for treatment and getting medicines. Both these issues can be addressed through utilizing eSanjeevani - India’s National Telemedicine Service - alongside home delivery of medicines,” the official said.

It is expected that the home delivery of medicines will be operationalized through the Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) developed by RailTel. This service allows users to book appointments, access lab reports, and electronic medical records, besides offering other facilities.

Healthcare Services Account for 2% of Railways’ Annual Expenditure

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India estimates that about ₹20,734 crore was spent as revenue expenditure between 2017-22 for delivering health services to railway hospital beneficiaries. Roughly 1% of this amount was spent on buying medicines. Healthcare services account for 2% of Indian Railways’ annual expenditure (revenue and capital included).

According to the CAG report, for the management of health services in Indian Railways, there is scope for strengthening the monitoring and internal control mechanism. The audit was for FY22 and its report was tabled in Parliament in August this year.

Concerns were also flagged regarding procurement of quality drugs and timely receipt of test reports, among others.

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