“With the initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the direction of making quality healthcare affordable for all, the Government has taken important steps to make affordable and quality generic medicines popular among the people through Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Jan aushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP)”, said Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya while addressing the media here today.
Mandaviya told that 7th March 2019 to be celebrated as ‘JanaushadhiDiwas’ across India. Over 5050 Janaushadhi stores functional across 652 districts in the country. Each block in the country to have a PMBJP Kendra by 2020.
The Minister informed that for providing further impetus & creating awareness about the use of generic medicines, it has been decided to celebrate 7th March 2019 as ‘JanaushadhiDiwas’ across India. Hon’ble Prime Minister will interact with owners of JanaushadhiKendras and beneficiaries of the scheme across the country through video conference at 1:00 pm on 7th March 2019. Talking about the future course of development, Shri Mandaviya added that with this pace of progress, all blocks in the country would have at least 1 PMBJP Kendra by 2020.
Citing Prime Minister’svision that no poor person should die due to non-availability of good quality affordable medicines in the country, Shri Mandaviya said that with developments like more and more doctors prescribing generic medicines and opening of over 5050Janaushadhistores across 652 districts, awareness and availability of high quality affordable generic medicines has increased in the country. About 10-15 lakh people benefit from Janaushadhi medicines per day and the market share of generic medicines has grown over three-fold from 2% to 7%in last 3 years, the Minister added.
Mandaviya said that health is one of the most important parts of the development and this Government has been incessantly working to ensure quality healthcare affordable for all, through schemes like Ayushman Bharat, PMBJP among others. The Janaushadhi medicines have played a big role in bringing down the out of pocket expenditure of patients suffering from life-threatening diseases in India. The PMBJP scheme has led to total savings of approximately Rs.1000 crores for common citizens, as these medicines are cheaper by 50% to 90% of the average market price.