Srinagar, Apr 20: The number of Jan Aushadhi Kendras in Jammu & Kashmir has increased to a record 227 till date and these are providing affordable quality medicines to the people and reducing their out-of-pocket expenses.
Administrative Secretary, Health and Medical Education (H&ME) Department, Bhupinder Kumar said that the sale of generic drugs at Jan Aushadhi Kendras across hospitals in Jammu & Kashmir has improved as compared to previous years.
As per official figures in the financial year 2021-2022, there was a sale of generic medicines worth Rs 22 cores in Jan Aushadhi Kendras, which has increased to Rs 48 crores in 2022-23.
Rifat Nazir, Nodal Officer, Pradhan Mantri Bharatiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana, Pharmaceuticals & Medical Devices Bureau of India (PMBI), told Rising Kashmir that the 227 Kendras have been established in J&K till date for providing affordable quality medicines to the people and reduce their out-of-pocket expenses.
“These 227 drug stores include 137 in the Kashmir division and the rest in Jammu. There are some non-functional Kendras and we are making them functional,” she said.
Rifat said there are a lot of variations of rates of medicine in the markets and with the opening of the government drug stores, people have been able to save more than Rs 200 crore in the previous year as drugs are given to people on subsidy rates.
Apart from districts, the health department has set up drug stores in far-flung areas of Jammu & Kashmir where having medicines for patients are impossible, especially in Kathua and Reasi.
“We have covered all the blocks. Today we stand in the first 10 states /UT in the progress of Jan Aushadhi Kendras in all respects including the sale of drugs to the people. We are ahead then Maharashtra and we are improving further in this direction. It is a corruption-free scheme,” she said.
The Nodal Officer said this year they plan to open some 75 Jan Aushadhi Kendras in the private sector out of which three have been made functional at Suibugh, Bagh-i-Mehtab and HMT. “We are encouraging to improve the number of private Jan Aushadhi Kendras. We provide Rs 5 lakh to the Kendras to make it viable in addition to the 20 percent margin plus other benefits,” she said.
“We are also opening Jan Aushadhi Kendras in Kupwara near the Line of Control and in Jammu in Kathua near the LoC. We are focussed on the border areas so that common people can take benefit. It is very difficult to take the medicines to the border villages,” she said.
Rifat said almost all the district hospitals, sub-district hospitals and PHCs have been covered and patients get the medicines at these stores at discount rates.
Pradhan Mantri Bharatiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana campaign is a public welfare scheme of the Government of India launched by the Department of Pharmaceuticals to provide quality medicines at affordable prices to the masses through special kendras.
