Jan Aushadhi Scheme India being the 2nd largest country on the earth in terms of population is home for many drug producing companies. Over the years these companies achieved benchmarks in producing the lifesaving medicine at low cost. Even though these are priced at lower rates there are still millions of people in the country who cannot afford them to come out of their health problems. One reason for this scenario could be the branded patent medicines sold by these pharma companies. In order to make these medicine affordable to the poor people government has come out with a new scheme called Jan Aushadhi Scheme.
As of March 31, 2023, there are 9497 Janaushadhi Kendras functional across the country. These kendras sell a wide range of generic medicines, including tablets, capsules, syrups, injectables, and surgical items. The prices of these medicines are 50% to 90% lower than the prices of branded medicines in the open market.
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The objectives of the PMBJP are to:
- Make quality generic medicines available at affordable prices to all.
- Promote the use of generic medicines.
- Reduce the out-of-pocket expenditure of patients on medicines.
- Improve the quality of healthcare in the country.
What is Jan Aushadhi Scheme?
Jan Aushadhi Scheme is a program launched by the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Govt. of India aims to make available quality generic medicines at affordable prices to all through special outlet known as Jan Aushadhi store opened/to be opened in each district of all the States.
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What is generic medicine?
If a drug is sold in the market by its chemical name without adding any brand or patent / advertising then it is called as generic medicine.
Generally pharma companies produce various medicines to solve different health problems. They sell some medicines which are used to cure a particular health issue under the name of the chemical used to make it. They do not obtain any patents for making those drugs. And no marketing cost also would be spent to sell them. They are sold at very low cost when compared to same kind of medicine which is non generic (Branded)
For example:
If Sun pharma makes a medicine which is used to cure cough using a particular chemical. And the same type of medicine is produced by Allergan pharma. But Sun pharma is selling it at Rs 1 per unit having the name of the chemical as its name. Whereas Allergan is selling it at Rs 5 per unit by advertising it under a brand name Cough-x. Then here the medicine offered by Allergan are no generic whereas sun pharma is selling generic medicine.
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Features of Jan Aushadhi Scheme:
1. Purpose of this scheme:
This was started with a motto of offering quality generic medicines at discount rate which otherwise are sold at a very high price by companies. To start with government has chosen 504 medicines.
2. What kind of medicines?
All the kind of essential drugs which include which include antibiotics, painkillers, vitamins and medicines used in treatment of cardiovascular, respiratory, diabetes and gastroenterology diseases will be sold under this scheme.
3. How:
It is reportedly said that government as a part of this scheme will purchases medicines from various public and private drug manufacturing companies and rebrand them, reprice them so that they would be sold at very affordable rates. For this government will open jana aushadi stores in many cities across India.
4. Myth about quality:
There is a myth among the public the quality of generic medicines is not as good as branded medicines. But this not true. Generic medicines work as effectively as branded medicines.
5. will these stores will be located?
- These stores are opened in the premises of Hospitals/ NGOs/Institutions/Co-operative Societies, identified by State Government.
- These are also opened by any reputed NGO/Charitable Society /Institution /Self-help group/Individual entrepreneur.
Benefits of Jan Aushadhi Scheme:
- Life-saving medicine will become affordable to all class of people.
- Creation of vast number of employment opportunities directly and indirectly
- These are sold at authorizes stores only. Hence the chances of selling fake medicines will be less.
- This will boost the health standards of the people.
For any queries related to Jan aushadi scheme you can contact 1800-180-8080
Official Website – http://janaushadhi.gov.in/pmjy.aspx
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