Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated the 10,000th Jan Aushadhi Kendra at AIIMS, Deoghar, and also launched the programme to increase the number of Jan Aushadhi Kendras in the country from 10,000 to 25,000.

Prime Minister in his Independence Day speech, 2023 announced the opening of 25,000 Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Kendras (PMBJKs) across the country. The product basket of Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP) comprises 1,963 medicines and 293 surgical devices covering all major therapeutic groups.

The Government of India decided to allow 2000 Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) to open Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Jan Aushadhi Kendras across the country.

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To make quality generic medicines available at affordable prices to all, Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Jan Janaushadhi Pariyojna(PMBJP)  was launched by the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Government of India in November 2008. Under the scheme outlets known as Janaushadhi Kendras are open to provide generic medicines at affordable prices.

SALIENT FEATURES OF THE SCHEME

• Ensure access to quality medicines
• Extend coverage of quality generic medicines to reduce the out-of-pocket expenditure on medicines and thereby redefine the unit cost of treatment per person
• Create awareness about generic medicines through education and publicity so that quality is not synonymous with only high-price
• A public program involving Government, PSUs, Private Sector, NGOs, Societies, Co-operative Bodies, and other Institutions
• Create demand for generic medicines by improving access to better healthcare through low treatment cost and easy availability wherever needed in all therapeutic categories.

Indian Pharmaceutical industry is worldwide famous for its export of generic pharma products. India is one of the major generic distributors all across the world.

The National Medical Commission’s guidelines, making it mandatory for doctors to write generic drug names instead of branded ones, have been kept in abeyance because there are concerns about standardization and trustworthiness that stop doctors from recommending them, particularly for critical patients.

Due lack of transparency in the licensing procedures of Drugs, it has resulted in the increased supply of low-quality, spurious, and substandard drugs. In a WHO study, the Mashelkar Committee has declared the data that nearly 30% of drugs in the Indian market are spurious, substandard, counterfeit drugs.