Indians have contempt for Janaushadhi. But foreigners are owning gen medicine stores. Union External Affairs Minister S Jayashankar inaugurated India’s first overseas Jan Aushadhi Center in Mauritius. Jaishankar and Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Kumar Jugnath performed the inauguration. Jayashankar said that this is a new step to further strengthen the relationship between the two countries. It is a pleasure to inaugurate the first foreign Jan Aushadhikendra in Mauritius with Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnath. This medicinal center is a promise made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this year,” Jaishankar said in a post shared on X.
He added that for the health care and welfare of the common people, medicines made in India will be distributed in a cost-effective manner through this health partnership scheme. The External Affairs Minister also inaugurated a Medi Clinic project started with the help of India in Grand Bois, Mauritius. He also said that 16,000 people in the Grand Boise area will receive health care during the inauguration. Jaishankar arrived in Mauritius on Tuesday for a two-day official visit. He thanked the Mauritius Foreign Minister Manish Gobin for the warm welcome extended to him. Jayashankar also said that there will be active interactions in furthering the relationship between the two countries.
After Mauritius, now Nepal has approached India to set up Jan Aushadhi Centers in that country, which will allow its citizens to benefit from low cost ‘Made in India’ generic medicines. Earlier, Mauritius became the first country to adopt the ‘Jan Aushadhi Scheme’, enabling access to around 250 high-quality medicines from the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Bureau.
Mauritius has asked India to test 33 medicines that are part of the Jan Aushadhi package. Also, Nepal has also expressed interest in getting this facility,” said a senior health ministry official. Pradhan Mantri Bharatiya Janaushadhi Paryojana (PMBJP) is a flagship Central Government scheme under which quality generic medicines are made available at affordable prices through dedicated outlets called Pradhan Mantri Bharatiya Janaushadhi Kendras (PMBJK). India currently has more than 10,000 PMBJKs across the country.
The project is being implemented by the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Bureau of India, an autonomous organization under the Department of Pharmaceuticals. According to the press release of the central government, the aim of the project is to provide quality medicines and surgical materials at affordable prices to reduce the out-of-pocket costs of consumers and patients and popularize generic medicines. PMBJP’s product basket includes 1965 drugs and 293 surgical devices, covering all major therapeutic groups such as anti-infectives, anti-diabetics, cardiovascular, anti-cancer, gastro-intestinal drugs, etc. ” says the press release. In 2023, 206 drugs and 13 surgical devices were added to the product basket.
The Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Bureau of India recorded sales of Rs 1,235.95 crore in 2022-23, resulting in savings of around Rs 7,416 crore to citizens. During the current financial year (2023-24), till November 30, 2023, the Bureau has made sales of Rs 935.25 crore, resulting in savings of about Rs 4,680 crore to citizens. In the last nine years, about Rs 23,000 crore has been saved this way, the press release said.
Jan Aushadhi is a general medicine outlet selling almost all commonly used life saving medicines at more than 50% discount. This is a drug sales system that works under the Prime Minister’s Special Scheme. The central government has slashed the prices of 400 types of medicines distributed through Jan Aushadhi. More than a hundred of these are commonly used herbs.
Medicines ranging from paracetamol to various antibiotics, pantotrazan for acidity, omitrozole, ranitrizole, atovastatin and rosuvastatin for cholesterol and telemistra for blood pressure are available through these centres. There is more than fifty percent discount on all these medicines.
However, the stickiness in doctors’ prescriptions is such that patients never seek these drugs.
Generic Medicines Medicines are sold as generic medicines in Jan Aushadhi Kendras. That is, what comes here are drugs with the same chemical name. Branded drugs acquire company-specific names when generic drugs that do not differ in form, quality, effect, and use from the pharmaceutical companies are industrially produced. Only then do they come to public attention through advertisements.
There is only one way to make medicines available to people in generic form rather than branded. Doctors should also write the generic name of the drugs they are prescribing in the prescriptions.
Doctors who violate the provision by not changing their prescribing habits. There is currently a requirement to write generic names (subject to their availability) while prescribing drugs. But no doctor prescribes any price for this condition. Most doctors write only the brand name of the drug.
In the case of generic names, patients can look at prices from different manufacturers of the same drug and choose the cheapest one. Instead of doing that, the doctor’s prescription strategy is to force the patient to the drug company’s product of their choice.
