1,000 Chief Minister’s Pharmacies to be opened in Tamil Nadu by February end

The State government plans to open 1,000 Mudhalvar Marunthagam (Chief Minister’s Pharmacies) across the State by the end of this month, said J. Radhakrishnan, Additional Chief Secretary of the Department of Cooperation, Food, and Consumer Protection, here on Saturday

The State government plans to open 1,000 Mudhalvar Marunthagam (Chief Minister’s Pharmacies) across the State by the end of this month, said J. Radhakrishnan, Additional Chief Secretary of the Department of Cooperation, Food, and Consumer Protection, here on Saturday.

After visiting the soon-to-be-opened Chief Minister’s pharmacies in Kattur and Kallukuzhi in Tiruchi, Mr. Radhakrishnan said the initiative aims at providing medicines at prices lower than those offered at cooperative, Amma, and Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi pharmacies. These pharmacies will offer 186 varieties of generic medicines, along with Siddha, Ayurveda, Unani, IMCAPS, DAMCAL, surgical, and nutraceutical products. The Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation (TNMSC) will procure quality medicines and sell them at a 10% discount compared to other government pharmacies.

He told presspersons here on Saturday that the Amma Pharmacies will continue to operate.

The new initiative will create job opportunities for youth. So far, 300 individuals and 440 cooperative societies have applied for pharmacy licence while 898 additional applications have been received. The scheme will be implemented throughout the State immediately after Chief Minister M.K. Stalin formally launches it in Chennai. In Tiruchi district alone, 37 pharmacies (including 11 run by individuals and 26 by cooperatives) will be opened.

Mr. Radhakrishnan said 11.44 lakh tonnes of paddy had been procured through direct procurement centres since September and ₹2,489 crore had been disbursed to 1.46 lakh farmers. An additional ₹300 crore would be disbursed soon. Freight trains carrying 46 wagons transport the paddy for timely storage. This year’s procurement had exceeded last year’s by 3.3 lakh tonnes. To prevent illegal charges, the government provides ₹10 per sack as sewing wages as against earlier ₹3 per bag, he said.

Over the past three-and-a-half years, 17.44 lakh new family ration cards had been issued. Since September alone, 1.56 lakh new cards had been distributed with 98,000 applications under review. Additionally, 5.9 lakh single-person cards existing in the name of deceased individuals would be scrapped and 29.69 lakh individuals marked as deceased will be removed from family ration cards.

Strict measures were being taken against ration fraud, including stringent monitoring of those smuggling essential commodities.