The Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers recently held a comprehensive review meeting of Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP). Sales of generic medicines have doubled under the Narendra Modi government’s flagship affordable drugs scheme, suggesting a growing preference among Indians for the cheaper variants of branded drugs.
PMBJP has achieved sales of Rs. 358 crores worth of pharma products through 6600 Janaushadhi Kendras and is likely to surpass sales of Rs. 600 crore for the entire year. Sales figure has seen a jump from Rs 7.29 crore in 2014-15 to Rs. 433 crore in 2019-20.
Bureau of Pharma PSUs of India is the implementing agency of the PMBJP. Aim of this scheme is to extend the coverage of quality generic medicines to reduce the expenditure on medicines and thereby redefine the unit cost of treatment per person, and also to create awareness about generic medicines through education and publicity so that quality is not synonymous with an only high price.
To make this scheme available to all, a mobile application was launched in August 2019 to help people in locating nearby Janaushadhi Kendra through Google Maps, searching for Janaushadhi generic medicines, analysing product comparison of generic versus branded medicine in form of Maximum Retail Price (MRP), overall savings, etc.
According to a research firm AIOCD-AWACS, sales at regular pharmacy have shown no significant improvement. Only cardiac, anti-diabetic and anti-malarial drugs posted growth in sales, at 5-10 per cent. Between May and July, sales dipped by 2 per cent. The categories affected included anti-infectives, gastrointestinal, pain and analgesics, dermatology, respiratory, gynecology, neurology and sex-stimulants.
PMBJP has its pros and cons but is has mostly helped the economically weaker section of the society. Even though the medicines are cheap, their quality is claimed to be at par with private pharmacies.
