The Central government's popular 'Jan Aushadhi' project, which virtually came to a halt during the last more than couple of months due to the general elections, will pick up momentum in the coming months. This month alone, 10 more stores will be established in different cities, sources said. Under the project, the government proposes to set up generic drug stores in each district of the country to make quality medicines available at affordable prices to the poorer sections of society.

Senior officials dealing with the project said that 20 more stores will be opened in June and July in different towns of the country, taking the total number of Jan Aushadhis to around 50. Around 30 Jan Aushadhis have already been opened so far, majority of them in northern states like Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi, etc. Two stores, one each in Jaipur and Alwar, have been opened in Rajasthan this month, and more are in offing, sources said.

Even though there are several proposals from different state governments including Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, etc to open Jan Aushadhi stores in their respective states, no stores could be opened due to the elections. Former Union chemicals minister, Paswan was opening Jan Aushadhi stores in different states with much fanfare till the general elections were announced by the election commission.

By establishing the Jan Aushadhis in each district, preferably in the premises of the district hospitals, the government wanted to ensure quality medicines to the poor people at affordable prices. 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, as much as 93 per cent in some categories.

The government launched the project on November 25 last year when it opened a Jan Aushadhi store at Amritsar in Punjab. The second store was launched at Shastri Bhawan in Delhi on February 2 while the third store was launched in Gurgaon on February 4. Stores were also opened in Mohali and Panchkula on February 11. So far, the government has opened around 30 stores and targets to open 100 such stores in a year.