Closure of Jan Aushadhi Kendras : Nadda asks CM Siddaramaiah to reconsider decision

In his letter, Nadda highlighted that JAKs provide quality generic medicines at rates typically 50% to 80% cheaper than leading branded medicines in the market, which has resulted in estimated savings of about Rs 5,700 crore to citizens in the state over the last 10 years

The Centre on Friday informed Lok Sabha that it has asked the Karnataka government to reconsider its plan to shut all Jan Aushadhi Kendras (JAKs) on the government hospital premises.

Replying to Belagavi BJP Lok Sabha member Jagadish Shettar in Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizer Anupriya Patel said that the Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilisers J P Nadda has written a letter to the chief minister of Karnataka asking him to reconsider decision of closing of Kendras in the interest of better availability of quality medicines
to all.

In his letter, Nadda highlighted that JAKs provide quality generic medicines at rates typically 50 per cent to 80 per cent cheaper than leading branded medicines in the market, which has resulted in estimated savings of about Rs 5,700 crore to citizens in the state over the last 10 years, Patel said in her written reply.

The Centre also pointed out that every state government has chosen to avail of Jan Aushadhi medicines through JAKs set up in government health facilities, as a result of which about 1,500
JAKs are today operating from government health facilities across the country, offering patients great
convenience.

While requesting the state government to reconsider its decision to shut down the JAKs, Nadda also informed that that to ensure sufficient availability of medicines at all JAKs in the state, the Pharmaceutical and Medical Devices Bureau of India maintains and supplies medicines procured by it from two regional warehouses at Bengaluru and Chennai.

“Apart from this, a strong network of 10 distributors has been set up across the southern region of the country to meet the requirement of JAKs at the local level and ensure that Janaushadhi medicines are available on an ongoing basis at various JAKs. As a result, more
than Rs 995 crore Minimum Retail Price (MRP) worth of quality Janaushadhi medicines at affordable prices have been provided from 1,480 JAKs opened in the state,” Patel said.