CHENNAI: Minister for Cooperation K R Periyakaruppan on Tuesday announced that 1,000 ‘Mudalvar Marunthagam’ (Chief Minister’s Pharmacy) outlets, which will sell generic medicines at subsidised rates, will be inaugurated by Chief Minister M K Stalin on February 24. He disclosed the details to reporters after presiding over a meeting at the office of the registrar of cooperative societies.
Of these, 500 outlets have been set up by cooperative federations/societies, while the remaining 500 are to be managed by entrepreneurs.
A grant of Rs 3 lakh has been provided to support each outlet, with 50% of the amount offered as a cash subsidy for infrastructure development, and the remaining 50% provided in the form of medicines.
The cooperation department is already running 335 pharmacies across the state.
The Tamil Nadu Consumers’ Co-operative Federation, which serves as the nodal agency for procuring medicines directly from pharmaceutical companies under the Centralised Procurement of Medicines, will procure medicines for ‘Mudalvar Marunthagam,’ sources said.
Periyakaruppan said that entrepreneurs who have completed DPharm or BPharm and hold a pharmacist license are allowed to establish these pharmacies. “The initiative has provided jobs to young people,” he said.