Generic drug stores near Government hospitals planned

Bengaluru: Toeing the lines of Generic Drug stores, the State government is all set to establish chain of drug stores near government hospitals by the name of Janasanjeevini. Health and Family Welfare Minister U.T. Khader told reporters on Tuesday that these outlets would be set up outside K.C. General, Bowring and Victoria Hospitals by January first week. “The target is to set up a minimum of one Janasajeevini outlet in all the 30 district headquarters by January end. The future plan was to open such generic medicine outlets at all the hospitals in 176 taluks,” he added.

The outlets will enable people across all the economic strata buy medicines at reduced prices and Hindustan Lifecare Limited (HLL) with which Karnataka government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) six months ago will set up generic drug stores on behalf of the government.

The software with which the generic name of a drug displayed even if the brand name is entered is underway. It is also working to display the addresses of generic drug stores displayed in front of hospitals and clinics in the state for easy access, he said.

Describing Janasanjeevini as a model for the country, Khader said Karnataka was forced to design its own model in view of the issues involved in implementing Jan Aushadhi campaign launched by the Union Government. “While as many as 361 generic drugs could be procured under Jan Aushadhi, as many as 748 drugs are available under Janasanjeevini. Karnataka government could not find Centre’s model feasible, as drugs for critical illness including Cancer are not available at a lower cost,” he explained.

In the Janasanjeevini model, if patients are uncertain about the quality of drugs, they could get the same tested at any of the drug test laboratories at Bengaluru, Hubballi and Ballari, through the state drug control department.