Kerala will soon have the retail outlets of Jan Oushadhi, managed by the department of pharmaceuticals (DoP), to sell generic drugs at affordable prices.

The stores will be opened and operated under the management of ‘Kudumbashree units’ (a community level organisation of women in Kerala). Bureau of Pharma Public Sector Undertakings under the department of pharmaceuticals is the nodal agency to start the generic stores associating the Kudumbashree units. The state government will provide all support and financial help to each unit to take forward the project.

In the beginning, 200 retail outlets of Jan Oushadhi stores will be opened all over Kerala, mainly in rural villages. Along with this, an additional number of 10 such units will be opened by the private sector. Financial aid will also be sourced through central pool to set up infrastructure facilities and to buy medicines, according to S Chandrasekharan Pillai, the nodal officer of the project.

According to sources from the health department, the state health minister will inaugurate the opening of the stores in the first week of January, 2016 in Thrissur.

B Hariprasad, the state drugs controller said, the retail management wing of the trust, Concern of Indian Small Scale Industries (CISSIL), has applied for sale licences for starting Jan Oushadhi generic stores. Two retired persons from the HLL Lifecare Ltd have approached the department for licences on behalf of the trust. One application was received by the ADC office at Thrissur.

The DC said the trust is planning to open Jan Oushadhi stores attached with their super markets known as, ‘Ente Kada’ (My Shop).

He said the Kerala Medical Services Corporation Ltd (KMSCL) had a plan to set up retail outlets of Jan Oushadhi scheme, but it was dropped due to many reasons later. The Kudumbashree project is the project of the government to open 200 Jan Oushadhi stores in various panchayats and municipalities, for which the Union government has already given sanction. All the stores will provide generic drugs at a discounted rate of 30 per cent through their outlets, he said.