Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (MS)

Bengaluru, Feb 21: Government has decided to start Jan Aushadhi centers in all government hospitals of Karnataka. Karnataka will be the first state in the country to open Jan Aushadhi centers in all government hospitals. As the union government is planning to establish these centers in all the government hospitals across the country, the Karnataka government has decided to take the lead.

At present, under the Pradhan Mantri Bharatiya Jan Aushadhi Pariyojane (PMBJP), there are around 7,500 Jan Aushadhi centers all over the country. Out of these 850 centers are in Karnataka alone. State government plans to open 1,000 centers by the end of 2021. As per the information available through data collection, around 20 new Jan Aushadhi centers are being opened every month in Karnataka.

Bengaluru urban district has 211 centers while Dakshina Kannada has 76. In the fiscal 2020-21, the state government made a turnover of Rs 118 crore from these centers. It is projected that the revenue will reach Rs 125-130 crore towards the end of March 2021. There are main distribution centers at Bengaluru, Hubballi, coastal Karnataka and Kalyana Karnataka regions.

The Union government has decided to flag off the awareness programme with regards to Jan Aushadhi in the month of March. Union minister Sadananda Gowda said, "Officials of state health department are going to hold discussion in this regard with state health minister Dr K Sudhakar in the first week of March. State government and the health minister are also eager to start Jan Aushadhi centers in the state in all the government hospitals. This will be done in phases."

"Doctors should prescribe Jan Aushadhi medicines only to patients who visit the hospital, especially those who are financially poor. Jan Aushadhi has also the quality as good as that of branded medicines. But the cost is less. For e.g: for diabetes and BP if one has to buy medicines from normal pharmacies, the cost may be around Rs 2,500 to 3,000. The same medicine can be availed from Jan Aushadhi centers at just Rs 250 to 300 per month,” he said.