Rishikesh: The Centre has decided to grant a 40 per cent hike in the drug purchase budget outlay of states to encourage them to distribute free medicines to hospitals, Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said here on Monday.
Making the announcement while formally inaugurating AIIMS in Rishikesh, Azad said the incentive is being given by the Centre under the Right to Health Scheme for the past two years and 12 states had so far benefited from it.
A hike of Rs 100 crore has been effected in Uttarakhand`s budget under the National Health Mission raising it from Rs 109 crore to Rs 209 crore, he said.
Azad said all 960 beds at the AIIMS, Rishikesh would be operational by the end of this year, and assured the state that "any hospital which raises the number of its beds to 300 will be given the status of a medical college".
Earlier, Chief Minister Harish Rawat sought the Centre`s permission for opening a Unani medical college at Piran Kaliyar and an Ayush medical college at Pithoragarh.
He also demanded that the number of seat in the Haldwani Medical College be raised from 100 to 150.
