The government has set a target to increase the number of Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Jan Aushadhi Kendras (PMBJKs) to 10,000 by March 2024, as part of efforts to provide quality medicines at an affordable rate for the common man, especially the poor.
In an exclusive interview with ANI, Ravi Dadhich, CEO, of Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Bureau of India (PMBI) said that Jan Aushadhi Kendra is providing 50 to 90 per cent cost-effective medicines to the beneficiaries.
Dadhich said, "The medicines are of extremely good quality and they are very affordable when you compare the prices of these medicines with the branded medicines they are 50 to 90 per cent cheaper."
Further explaining the aim behind the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana, he said, "The aim of Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP) is to provide affordable medicines to the citizens. As we all know, the out of pocket expenditure on medicines is a huge burden on the families who have any person who has fallen sick so they can purchase the medicines these are extremely good quality medicines and they are very affordable when you compare the prices of these medicines with the branded medicines."
"At present, there are 8,700 shops in the country. We aim to make it 10,000 shops in the near future so that these shops are available in all the blocks across the country very soon," he added.
The sale of medicines for regular lifestyle diseases like blood pressure or sugar-related medicines is high in demand. And since these are taken on a regular basis, the current quantum of these medicines in the sales aspect is also very high.
"We get patients from all over the country, this centre is helping a lot of patients for those who are on some therapies, they get Rs 100 medicine in Rs 10 and they purchase medicines for 8months also because they can't travel daily from far place", said Deepu Sharma of Jan Aushadhi Kendra at Safdarjung hospital.
Adab Singh's child Varun who is 11-years-old has tonsils, stones and throat related issues due to that his growth has been affected. He is purchasing medicines for just Rs 100-200. Earlier he used to spend higher when he had to purchase medicines from private medical stores.
"I am purchasing my son's medicines from this store at a very affordable price, I travel to this hospital for the treatment and medicines from Bulandshahar every two months of the period," said Singh.
In the month of May 2022, PMBI clocked its highest monthly sales turnover of Rs 106 crores which in turn has saved around Rs 600 crore for citizens of the country.
( With inputs from ANI )
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