Karwar (ENS): Uttara Kannada district, which has 11 taluks, has no generic medicine store. The people here are still depending on medical stores that sell costly medicine.

A generic medicine store being run by TSS Hospital, a private hospital in Sirsi town, has been helping hundreds of people who visit the hospital. With an aim to bring in improvement in the present medical system, Health Minister K R Ramesh Kumar had made it compulsory to set up generic medicine stores in all the district and taluk hospitals a year ago. But till date, no generic medicine store has been opened in any of the taluk or district hospitals in the district.

Under public private partnership (PPP) model, generic stores were supposed to be opened in the all taluks. The Union Government was ready to release funds for NGOs to set up such stores. Mysuru-based MSIL firm had come forward to implement the project. But later it withdrew the plan saying there is technical problem. Now, the district health and family welfare department has taken the responsibility to set up generic stores in all the taluk hospitals in the district.

District health officer Dr Ashok Kumar said: “As MSIL has stepped back, opening of generic stores has been delayed in the district. Now the district health department has taken the responsibility. We have written to the government in this regard and are waiting for its order to take the project forward. We have notified places in all the taluk hospitals to open the store. Once we get government order, generic stores will be opened.”

Even the district hospital in Karwar, which comes under the Karwar Institute of Medical Science, does not have a generic store. When contacted, KIMS director Dr Shivanand Doddamani said: “Earlier the district hospital was under the health department. Now it has been brought under the institute. We have written to the medical education department to set up generic store in the hospital and it will start soon.”