Bihar slow to push generic drugs using PM’s Janaushadhi project

In case of PMBJP, procurement is done directly through drug manufacturers by asking them to compete in tender.

Bihar was behind the national average in terms of growth in sale of medicines through Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP), as the Prime Minister announced on Sunday that Ayush medicines would now also be available under the scheme to patients, along with generic allopathic medicines at 50% - 90% cheaper rates than branded drugs.

Jan Aushadhi stores sell more than 900 medicines and 150 surgical items at discounted prices, sometimes as cheap as 20-30% of the market rate, according to the government. (HT/File Photo)

The state registered 57% upswing in sales under the PMBJP during the last 11 months. This was, however, 3% less than the national average growth of 60% till February, said officials.

Though Bihar, during this period, has been able to increase the number of PMBJP centres from 161 to 222, the pace of opening such centres has been far from satisfactory, said an official of the ministry of chemicals and fertilizers, requesting anonymity.

As per the Centre’s roadmap, Bihar should have had at least 534 such stores — at least one in each of its 534 revenue blocks. Of the 222 existing outlets, 29 are in Patna alone. Sixty-one more such centres are to open across the state by the end of the year.

“Bihar does not have a standard operating procedure (SOP) on how to open such stores in the state. As a result, it leads to inordinate delay in processing any request for opening of the PMBJP outlet at a government health facility,” he said.

“A state facility has to give its consent for opening such an outlet on its campus. This does not happen smoothly even in Patna. The situation is worse in districts, where civil surgeons are generally not proactive,” said the officer, who requested anonymity.

In Patna, for instance, the Patna Medical College Hospital (PMCH) and the AIIMS do not have PMBJP outlets. The two facilities, however, have Amrit stores, which provide implants and generic drugs at subsidised cost.

Amrit stores are owned and run by the PSU HLL Lifecare. Here the government caps the price of drugs purchased through distributors. In case of PMBJP, procurement is done directly through drug manufacturers by asking them to compete in tender, floated through the Bureau of Pharma PSUs of India, a PSU of the Central government. As a result, the common man generally gets a higher discount on drugs purchased through PMBJP outlets.

The Nalanda Medical College Hospital and the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) are among the few centres in Patna to have an Amrit store as well as PMBJP outlet on their campuses.

Another reason for the less than the national growth in sale of generic drugs in Bihar was the reluctance among doctors to prescribe them.

BJP MP from Aurangabad Sushil Kumar Singh acknowledged this fact and requested doctors to prescribe generic drugs.

“Our Prime Minister has named you (doctors) Corona warriors. My earnest request to you is to prescribe maximum generic drugs. Branded drugs should be prescribed only under compelling circumstances, so that the financial burden on patients is reduced,” said Singh at a function at the IGIMS.

IGIMS superintendent Dr Manish Mandal said the institute had already issued instructions to its doctors to write generic drugs on their prescriptions after a PMBJP store was opened on its campus on September 24, last year.

Talking of red tape in Bihar, Pawan Kejriwal, who runs the PMBJP store at IGIMS said, “I had to wait for four years to open the store. The authorities cancelled three of my previous allotment orders during this period before I competed the fourth time last year.”

The Centre had initially advised states to earmark land on its hospital campuses to open Amrit stores, to provide affordable and reliable generic drugs, stents and implants under the PMBJP, re-launched in November 2016.

Bihar was slow to soak in the concept when generic drug stores were first mooted in 2008 under ‘Jan Aushadhi’, a project for sale of generic drugs through exclusive outlets called the ‘Jan Aushadhi medical store’. It was not before 2017-18 that the first Amrit store opened at Patna’s IGIMS.

In September 2015, the 'Jan Aushadhi scheme' was revamped as 'Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Yojana' (PMJAY). To give further impetus to the scheme, it was again renamed as ‘Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana’ in November 2016.

Two years back, Bihar had only 132 (approx) generic drugs stores as against thousands of retail outlets selling branded medicines. Darbhanga, Lakhisarai, Sheohar and Sheikhpura were then among a few districts which did not have any generic drugs store.