NEWS

India celebrated 7 March as ‘Janaushadhi Diwas’

OBJECTIVE

• Aims to provide further impetus and create awareness about the use of generic medicines
• Highlights the initiatives undertaken by Government in the direction of making quality healthcare affordable for all, like Ayushman Bharat, PMBJP, etc.
• Government launched the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana to make affordable and quality generic medicines popular among the people

PRADHAN MANTRI BHARTIYA JANAUSHADHI PARIYOJANA

• Campaign launched by the Department of Pharmaceuticals in 2008 under the name Jan Aushadi Campaign.
• Bureau of Pharma PSUs of India (BPPI) is the implementation agency for PMBJP.
• The Bureau of Pharma PSUs of India works under the Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers.
• PMBJP stores have been set up to provide generic drugs, which are available at lesser prices but are equivalent in quality and efficacy as expensive branded drugs.
• It also intends to extend the coverage of quality generic medicines so as to reduce the out of pocket expenditure on medicines and thereby redefine the unit cost of treatment per person.
• It will create awareness about generic medicines through education and publicity so that quality is not synonymous with an only high price