Janaushadhi Kendras to put pressure on retail medicine market trade margins: Pharma secretry Arunish Chawla
New Delhi: Robust sales growth recorded by the Indian government’s generic pharmacy model will put pressure on trade margins in the retail medicine market because of the affordability and quality of the drugs sold, a top official said.
The quality certified generic medicines sold at kendras (centres) operating under the Pradhan Mantri Bharatiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP) help to moderate the prices of medicines and create a benchmarking effect, Arunish Chawla, secretary of the Department of Pharmaceuticals, said in an interview toMint.
The PMBJP is the flagship scheme of the Department of Pharmaceuticals under which quality and affordable generic medicines are made available to citizens at Janaushadhi Kendras. The scheme, implemented by the Pharmaceuticals & Medical Devices Bureau of India (PMBI), is intended to reduce the medical expenses of consumers/patients and popularise generic drugs.
Chawla said the sales target of ₹2,000 crore for the Janaushadhi Kendras will likely be exceeded this year, given the 40% annual growth.
“The target of ₹2,000 crore of actual sales, which means its value in the open-market equivalent is ₹10,000 crore, is likely to be exceeded. The Janaushadhi kendras are expanding their reach within the country. The prime minister inaugurated the 10,000th kendra in November last year and we have already crossed 14,000 kendras. By the end of this year, we will reach the target of 15,000. Our year-on-year growth is 40% and now we are going global,” said Chawla, who is the chairperson of the PMBI.
Global expansion
The overseas expansion of the scheme comes as Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Ghana, Suriname, Nicaragua, Mozambique, and the Solomon Islands recognised Indian standards for drugs and medicines. Burkina Faso, the Fiji Islands, and Saint Kitts and Nevis are in talks with the Indian government to replicate this model. This will encourage India’s commitment to supporting the Global South with affordable healthcare solutions.
“We have opened our first international Janaushadhi kendra in Mauritius. The prime minister just announced the setting up of Janaushadi kendras in Guyana, and about a dozen countries are in discussions with us,” said Chawla.
He said reforms are under way in the Janaushadhi scheme to ensure full compliance with good manufacturing practices by drug makers. In addition, there will be surprise audits and source-tracing of active pharmaceutical ingredients and excipients. This means that for any drug that gets into the system, the PMBI gets the source of origin including a certificate of analysis.
“For anything that comes to our warehouse, our approach is: Respect all, suspect all. We take random samples from every batch and get them tested in accredited laboratories. Only then, these drugs allowed to go further. In addition, we have a minimum stock mandate for 200 drugs integrated within the system,” said Chawla.
The PMBJP’s product basket comprises 2,047 medicines and 300 surgical devices covering all major therapeutic groups such as cardiovascular, cancer, diabetic, infection, allergy and gastrointestinal drugs and nutraceuticals. Almost 1 million people visit the Janaushadi kendras daily.
