The 200 most used drugs will be stocked at the government's generic pharmacy stores, known as Pandhan Mantri Janaushadhi Kendra, two officials aware of the matter said.
These stores have brought down the prices of quality medicines, making them available for the poor.
A plan approved in the recent governing council meeting of the department of pharmaceuticals aims to ensure round-the- clock availability of these 200 medicines that include insulin, painkillers, multi-vitamins, antibiotics, diabetes management drugs and hypertension medicines.
“The plan is to retain minimum stock for at least 200 commonly used medicines at Jan Aushadhi stores 24/7. This is the next big step the government aims to do and will be implemented in a phased manner,” said an official aware of the matter requesting anonymity.
Currently, there are over 12,000 generic drug stores, with plans to increase their count to 25,000 by 2026 as announced by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi last year.
The drugs at these stores are procured from WHO-GMP-certified pharmaceutical companies.
To ensure safety and quality of the medicines, the government conducts random sampling for every batch of drugs delivered to warehouses for testing at empanelled government-accredited laboratories.
“The government’s target is to cover all districts in India. By the end of this year, the aim is to increase the number of Jan Aushadhi stores to 15,000 followed by 20,000 stores in 2025 and finally reaching the set target of 25,000 by end of 2026 or early 2027,” added a second official.
The Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Bureau of India (PMBI) has been given the mandate to ensure the availability of quality medicines at affordable prices at Janaushadhi Kendra stores.
Generic medicines are 50-90% cheaper than branded medicines.
According to the government, average sales per these outlet per month have grown upto ₹1.50 lakh.
Queries sent to the department of pharmaceuticals' spokesperson remain unanswered till press time.
