The department of pharmaceuticals (DoP) has started advertising the Jan Aushadhi stores (generic drug stores), assuring the common man that the drugs available at these stores are cheaper as well as of good quality.

Department sources said that the main purpose of the advertisements being aired in several national electronic media in the country is to popularise and to allay any fears among the people about the quality of the products available through these stores. The department wants to send across the message that the cheaper medicines are not necessarily the low quality products. Jan Aushadhi project is an ambitious initiative of the DoP to popularize generic drug stores in each district of the country, aimed to make quality medicines available at affordable prices to the poorer sections of society.

Advertising the Jan Aushadhi project is in response to the long pending demand of the industry, especially the small scale units, who are the potential suppliers of generic drugs to the Jan Aushadhi stores. Presently, drugs for these stores are sourced from the public sector drug companies such as IDPL and RDPL.

So far, the DoP has established 55 Jan Aushadhi stores mostly in states like Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi and Orissa which is well below the target set by the government.

Under the project, the concerned state government will provide the required space, mostly in the premises of major hospitals. The department of pharmaceuticals through its nodal agencies like IDPL will play the role of procurers of the generic medicines. Apart from public sector pharma undertakings like IDPL, the government would procure generic drugs from private companies.

The state governments, besides providing space, will be asked to issue directions to the doctors in government hospitals to prescribe generic medicines as majority of people cannot afford the branded products. Rajasthan government has already issued a directive in this regard.

The government launched the project on November 25, 2008 when it opened a Jan Aushadhi store at Amritsar in Punjab. Though some more stores were opened in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, it did not pick up momentum to meet the targets set by the government.

At a time when the prices of medicines are increasingly becoming out of the reach of poorer sections of the society, the Jan Aushadhi stores are expected to prove to be a boon to them. Once implemented according to the prices suggested by the government, the treatment cost is to come down drastically.