Govt to procure from SMEs for proposed low-cost drug stores

Centre plans to bring in a policy to support manufacturing bulk drugs in India

The Government of India is working on reviving the low cost drug store model Jan Aushadhi and plans are to source drugs from the small and medium pharma manufacturers for the proposed 3,000 stores, said Union Minister of States for Chemical and Fertilizer Hansraj Gangaram Ahir.

Delivering his inaugural address in the regional Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) strengthening workshop for pharma manufacturers and State regulators, organised by the Department of Pharmaceuticals under the Ministry, along with World Health Organisation and FICCI, he said, "We are working on reviving the generic medicine store Jan Aushadhi. We will look at sourcing from the Small and Medium pharma companies for these proposed 3,000 stores." He added that availability of timely and low cost medicines would help several poor Indians to save lives.

While the pharmaceutical industry in the country is exporting to almost 200 countries, offering low cost, quality medicines to many of the developing nations, there are areas where the country has to strengthen its manufacturing activities, to reduce reliance on imports. The government is working on a policy to support enhancing manufacturing of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), which are the main ingredient in a medicine, and the intermediates in the country itself.

He pointed that the public sector pharmaceutical companies including Hindustan Antibiotics Ltd, along with the private players, could increase their manufacturing capacity for APIs and intermediates, so that imports from other countries would be reduced. The government want to do away with monopoly in such sectors, he added.

It may be noted that a major share of the APIs and intermediates used to manufacture medicines in India are at present imported from other countries, especially China. With the availability of cheap imports from China, many of the API, intermediate manufacturers closed their manufacturing unit.

The government is in the process of bringing in a policy to help increase manufacturing these products in India and is expecting to see these facilities to be revived and upgraded for manufacturing, said Sudhansh Pant, joint secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals, in the sidelines of the conference.

He said that once the policy is ready, results of it would start coming in within a year's time. It may be noted that the Jan Aushadhi Campaign, launched in 2008 by the previous Congress-led government with key objective of making quality generic medicines available at affordable prices for all, particularly the poor and disadvantaged, through specialized outlets called Jan Aushadhi Stores (JAS), failed to take off in various parts of the country and failed in some States because of the free drug scheme later introduced by the State government.

A tender document issued by the Bureau of Pharma Public Sector Undertakings of India (BPPI), under the Department of Pharmaceuticals, in the beginning of 2015 has said, "After varied success in last five years and to give a new thrust to Jan Aushadhi Campaign, a New Business Plan has been worked out. It aims to extend the geographical coverage of the scheme, by opening more than 3000 stores during the 12th Plan Period."

It is proposed to channelise efforts to popularise the scheme in a few selected states and ensure availability of the complete basket of medicines at affordable prices, it added.

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