The department of pharmaceuticals plans to resurrect its struggling dream project ? the Jan Aushadhi Scheme ? by pumping in additional resources. It plans to perfect the model by focusing on select geographies before scaling it up nationally, increasing the coverage of medicines retailed and taking the count of stores to 3,000 by the end of 12th Plan from the present 104-odd outlets.
?We have prepared a three-pronged strategy to reinvigorate the Jan Aushadhi project, which we believe has tremendous potential to meet the twin objective of ensuring affordability and accessibility of drugs in the country,? Devendra Chaudhary, joint secretary, department of pharma, said.
This ambitious programme of government which strives to market low-cost unbranded generic drugs through a chain of government stores, would now concentrate on eight ?Jan Aushadhi friendly? states to prove the worth of the model, before rolling it out nationally. These states are ? Punjab, Rajashtan, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Orissa and even J &K. In fact, Kargil may see opening of a store soon.
The number of medicines being marketed through these stores are proposed to go up by four times to 1,000 from 257 after a detailed study throws up drug usage patterns in these states and plans to stock the most used drugs are tailored for each state, Chaudhary said. ?We would also be building public awareness through media campaign, internet and mobile platform. We are working on an idea through which people would be able to access information on generic substitutes for a specific brand of drug, with entire details on price differences through sms and online services,? he added.
The DoP has sought an allocation of over R200 crore from the planning commission to be spent only on the scheme during the 12th Plan Period. This year, the government is already incurring close to R70 crore on the scheme, and aims to take the count of stores to 160 in next one to two year period.
On private sector participation, Chaudhary admits there has been less than lukewarm response. While the industry seeks high volumes to make business sense out for this not-for-profit government model, the size of the whole project is not big enough to demand drug procurement of a scale.
?Much of the generic drug industry?s challenges would be discussed at a platform that the DoP has co-partnered with Ficci and WHO to create. Through the India Pharma Summit this week, we are reaching out to the industry to overcome the roadblocks, that stops the Indian generic industry from becoming the largest supplier of low-cost, high quality drugs in the world,? Chaudhary said. This is particularly significant as new generic competitors from Brazil, Russia and China are emerging to steal the show from Indian drugmakers on the global stage, he added.