The government is aiming to roll out an ambitious project for

­The government is aiming to roll out an ambitious project for providing free medicines to its citizens at public health facilities across the country. Once the scheme is launched, the government will provide free generic medicines to all patients coming to public health facilities. Opponents of the project have criticized it, stating that since the plan covers only generic medicines, most of the citizens will be outside its purview.

Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the criticism made above of the Health Ministry’s strategy?

(A) The Health Ministry has made suitable arrangements to ensure that there is no shortage of generic drugs once the new scheme is rolled out.

(B) A survey of public health facilities across the country has revealed that more than half of the prescribed medicines at these facilities comprise generic medicines.

(C) Most of the country’s citizens prefer branded medicines to generic ones.

(D) The middle and lower income groups, which comprise a large chunk of the country’s population, still frequent public health facilities to resolve their health issues.

(E) The cost of running this scheme will eventually have to be borne by the citizens in the form of increased taxes.


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