Jan Aushadhi Scheme

The affordability of medicines in India leaves a lot to be desired, as many of the financially challenged citizens are unable to meet the cost of medicines. Considering the importance of adequate and proper healthcare, the Government of India introduced the ‘Jan Aushadhi' scheme for extending the availability of medicines and quality healthcare to the needy. In this article, we look at an overview of the Jan Aushadhi Scheme. Know more about opening a pharmacy in India.

Mode of Operation

The campaign would involve the launch of Jan Aushadi stores, through which quality and unbranded medicines would be provided at affordable costs. The operational responsibilities are vested with a task force comprising of senior officers of the Department of Pharmaceuticals, CEOs of Pharmaceutical CPSUs, representatives of the pharma industry, NGOs/Charitable organizations, State Governments and qualified doctors from reputed healthcare institutions.

Objectives of the Campaign

Ensuring the availability of quality medicines through the CPSU (Central Public Sector Undertaking) supplies and GMP compliant manufacturers.
Facilitate the coverage of quality generic medicines to the rich and the poor, which would favourably affect the unit cost of treatment per person.
Educating the general public about the benefits of procuring medicines at a lower cost.
Encouraging doctors to suggest unbranded generic medicines to patients.

Features of the Initiative

‘Jan Aushadhi’ stores will be launched in Government hospitals and other accessible places.
The campaign proposes to launch 300 ‘Jan Aushadhi’ stores, out of which over 150 have already been set-up.
Over 500 medicines will be available under the scheme.
The Government strives to incentivize the store owners by providing them funds amounting to Rs. 2 lakhs, and a sum of Rs. 50 lakhs for the procurement of hardware.
The store-owners can procure the medicines at a discount of 16%.
The National Accreditation Board will authenticate the drugs before releasing them to the store.
The campaign will involve the participation of the public sector and private sector so as to ensure widespread coverage to all locales of the country.
The scheme facilitates savings among the needy.

The Layout

Under the campaign, a list of Unbranded Generic medicines has been prepared to treat chronic and other ailments by using the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) as a source. In addition to this, each state would be provided with an add-on list known as the State List (SL) based on the consumption of any specific medicine in the locality. 'Jan Aushadhi' stores will gradually be launched in all the districts of the country.

Bureau of Pharma PSUs of India (BPPI)

Bureau of Pharma PSUs has been established with the objective of facilitating a focused and empowered structure for the implementation of tasks. The entity will be responsible to:

Coordinate the marketing of generic drugs through the Jan Aushadhi stores.
Coordinate the supply chain of medicines.
Coordinate with hospitals in the preparation of formulas.
Scrutinize the operations of the 'Jan Aushadhi' stores with the assistance of other CPSUs.
Ensure the distribution of medicines at the appropriate rates.

Core Committee

The department of pharmaceuticals and NPPA has established a core committee to coordinate tasks with State Governments, the private sector, and CPSU’s. The committee is required to:

Create awareness among the consumers through multimedia promotions.
Formulate a scheme after the success of the pilot project, with particular emphasis on the needy.
Periodically analyze the scheme in terms of its implementation and make the necessary rectifications.

Ownership of Stores

The stores can be established and operated by the State Governments, as well as NGOs/Charitable/Cooperative Government bodies, etc. It may be noted that the recurring expenditure for stores established outside government hospitals must be borne by the respective body.