Budget revives hope for ‘dying’ stores selling cheap generic drugs

MUMBAI: The Centre’s proposal to amend the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules to boost the use of generic medicines has come as welcome news for owners of Jan Aushadhi stores as well as the common man. Caught between the cut-throat drug industry and the deep-seated doctor-pharma nexus, these stores, which are designed to exclusively sell affordable generic medicines, are fighting a daily battle for survival.

Though conceptualized in 2008, the scheme got a new lease of life only in 2016, when Union finance minister Arun Jaitley made budgetary allocations and provided incentives for citizens, NGOs or whoever wanted to open a store. A year down the line though, the idea seems to have failed. But in this year’s budget, when Jaitley said the Centre plans to amend the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, the hopes of Jan Aushadhi store owners—only five in the entire Mumbai Metropolitan Region—were revived.

About 500 popular medicines and 200 surgical consumables were identified to be made available at the 684 Jan Aushadhi stores across the country, where medicines are 50-60% cheaper than their branded counterparts. “But currently, only 50-60% of the drug basket is available,” said Rajendra Shelar, president of NGO Anand Seva Kendra, who runs the Nerul store. Drugs for diabetes, hypertension, cholesterol, antibiotics, calcium and vitamin supplements are some of the fast-moving products that often face a supply delay. “There is only one drug distributor in Maharashtra. If we run out, we have to wait for eight days for the stocks to arrive from Nashik,” he said, adding that his store barely makes Rs 1,500 a day.

Barring one, most stores are grappling with an erratic supply of drugs, dearth of awareness among patients, and lack of motivation among doctors to write generic drug names. “Most of us face difficulty paying pharmacist and staffers. It needs mass awareness and commitment from doctors to educate patients about the option of cheaper medicines,” said Manjiri Toraskar, who started the city’s first store in Ghatkopar (W). Vijay Gosar, who claims to run the only profit-making store of the five in MMR, said he seldom faces any supply delay. “The project needs more time. With perks such as cashbacks and an incentive of Rs 2.5 lakh to start a store, there will be more takers eventually,” he said.

The Bureau of Pharma PSUs of India (BPPI), which implements the scheme, is to add 3,000 stores across the country by March. CEO of BPPI Biplab Chatterjee said, “To deal with the challenges such as supply of drugs, we have started procuring medicines from private firms as well though pharma public sector units will have the first right to supply.” He said following the government’s call to citizens, through newspaper ads, to invest in Jan Aushadhi stores, BPPI has received with 11,000 applications.