Centre to open 200 Jan Aushadhi Centres in Karnataka

BENGALURU: The Centre will sign an MoU with Karnataka on October 2 in Bengaluru to open 200 Jan Aushadhi centres in Karnataka.

Union Chemicals and Fertilizer Minister Ananth Kumar announced this to Karnataka Health and Family Welfare Minister Ramesh Kumar when the latter met him at Delhi on Monday.

The PM's Jan Aushadhi centres sell drugs at a discount to MRP. These centres will sell 580 generic drugs, according to Anath Kumar.

The Centre will open 168 centres at district and taluk hospitals.The government has already opened 32 centres at community health centres, he said.

The Centre will provide Rs 2.5 lakh per centre, and the state government must take steps to provide these inexpensive drugs to people, he said.

Medical devices, including surgical and consumable items, are defined as ‘drugs’ under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940. As per the information provided by Department of Pharmaceuticals, 165 surgical and consumable items are already being sold through Jan Aushadhi stores.