The Centre, on May 31, said that sales revenue from the sale of generic medicines across India has crossed Rs 100 crore for the first time this month.
There are 8,735 such shops in 739 districts as of now that the government has set a target of increasing the number of Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Kendras (PMBJKs) to 10,000 by the of March 2024.
The stores are operated by the Pharmaceuticals & Medical Devices Bureau of India (PMBI) under the department of pharmaceuticals.
According to a government statement, in its journey of last 8 years, starting from the annual turnover of Rs 8 Crore in year 2014-15, PMBI has clocked its highest monthly sales turnover of Rs. 100 Crore in the month of May, 2022.
This, according to the government, has saved around Rs 600 crore of citizens of the country. In May, 2021-during the peak of second COVID-19 wave, total sales at Jan Aushadhi stores were valued at Rs 83.77 crore.
“People have been able to reduce their out-of-pocket expenditure on medicines with the government intervention of this noble scheme,” said the Centre adding that at present, these stores make available more than 1600 medicines and 250 surgical devices including nutraceuticals, Ayush products and Suvidha Sanitary pads which are sold at Rs 1 per pad.
Under PMBJP, new applications have also been invited to cover 3579 blocks of 406 districts to provide quality generic medicines through these stores.
Residents of small towns and blocks headquarters can now avail the opportunity to open Jan Aushadhi Kendras, the statement said.
The scheme provides for incentive of Rs 5 lakh and special incentives of up to Rs. 2 lakh for various categories including women, SC/ ST, hill districts, island districts and north-eastern States.
Also, said the Centre, the PMBI has strengthened the supply chain system by setting up of four warehouses at Gurugram, Chennai, Guwahati and Surat. In addition, there is a distributor network of 39 distributors across India to ensure timely supplies in every part of India.
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