In a major effort to expand the Pradhan Mantri Bharatiya Jan Aushadhi Kendras (PMBJAKs) from 6,500 outlets in 732 districts and give it a pan-India reach, the Union government has now doubled the financial support to Rs 5 lakh from Rs. 2.50 lakh. This is to boost employment opportunities in the pharmacy sector.
Any NGO, co-operative society, unemployed pharmacist and medical practitioner can open a Jan Aushadhi outlet spanning 120 sq ft, manned by a registered pharmacist having a drug license issued for Pradhan Mantri Janaushadhi Kendras. The outlets can garner a 20% trade margin under the scheme.
Stating that the PMBJAK has been a successful model to enable people decrease their expenses on medicine purchase, Union minister for chemicals and fertilisers Sadananda Gowda said it was observed that up to 50% of healthcare costs were out-of-pocket expenses and this has led to 1.5 crore people being pushed into BPL category annually, simply because of costly medicines. With the setting up of PMBJAKs where people accessed quality drugs at affordable prices, we saw a big difference in the household expenditure as medicines are priced 90 per cent and 50 per cent lower for generics and branded respectively, Gowda said.
Stating that a common perception is that low cost medicines would have quality issues, the government put in place a system to source them via an open tender system to procure from private and public sector pharma companies. These drugs undergo stringent quality parameters like being manufactured at WHO-GMP audited pharma production plants and tested at NABL accredited labs ensuring patient safety, Gowda noted at a webinar organised by RR College of Pharmacy and the Karnataka Registered Pharmacists Association (KRPA).
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Speaking on the theme ‘Jan Aushadhi is the Pharmacy of India’, he said that in FY20, the PMBJAK registered revenues to the tune of Rs. 430 crore and from a people standpoint the cost benefit accrued was to the tune of Rs. 2,500 crore. “Now our intent is to increase the number of outlets across India. While PMBJAK is headquartered in Gurugram, its offices at Chennai and Guwahati monitor end-to-end supply chain. There are around 650 drugs and 150 medical devices sold at the PMBJAKs. Even in the last four months of the COVID-19, the government added 50 PMBJAK outlets and ensured 24/7 access to needy patients. In Karnataka, Jan Aushadhi pharmacies are being set up on a regular basis in government hospitals.”
According to Sachin Kumar Singh, CEO, Bureau of Pharma PSUs, even as India is a leader in generic medicine production and exports to 200 countries, at least 6 out of 10 people here have no access to medicines. Jan Aushadhi is profitable and current drug non-availability issues are to some extent because of manufacturers being under stress for working capital and access raw materials.
Sunil S Chiplunkar, moderator, and advisory member, KRPA noted that Jan Aushadhi is an attractive option for pharmacists who can offer quality medicines and strengthen India’s health infrastructure. Further, Jan Aushadhi reinforces the entrepreneurial spirit, making pharmacists ‘job creators rather than job seekers’, encouraging self-employment.
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