The authorities in India have announced a new policy to provide free generic medicines to its citizens seeking medical care from a large city hospital or a small health care unit in rural areas.

India's public doctors will soon be able to prescribe free generic drugs to everyone, a move that will greatly expand the coverage of medical care in the country. The government announced the new $5.4 billion policy to provide free generic medicine to all the people.

Officials said that the scheme was rolled out in 2011 without an announcement and the funding has been increased this year to expand the coverage. Under the new plan, doctors will have to prescribe only generic medicines and will face punishment if they prescribe branded medicines. The plan puts major pharmaceutical companies at a major disadvantage in one of the fastest growing markets in the world.

Analysts say that Pharmaceutical firms will have to relook their strategy in emerging countries as there might be similar moves in other countries. The Indian government estimates that about half of the country's 1.2 billion people are likely to benefit from the scheme in the next five years.

Private hospitals and clinics will be free to prescribe any medicine they wish and this people visiting privately run health care units will not necessarily benefit from the scheme.