(Image source from: assam.news18.com)
India will soon send Jan Aushadhi branded medicines to Mauritius after bilateral talks in May. The Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Bhartiya Jan Aushadhi Pariyojana (PMBTC) scheme is promoted by the Narendra Modi government as an affordable medicines scheme. The company offers generic drugs at prices that are 50 to 90 percent cheaper than brand-name drugs on the market. Morris shared a list of 16 therapeutic areas to stockpile. These medications include anticancer drugs, antidiabetic drugs, antibiotics, nerve drugs, urology drugs, painkillers, antifungals, and nutritional supplements. The bilateral meeting also decided to expedite the regulatory process related to certification to make the Mauritius-based Jan Aushadhi Kendra fully operational. A senior government official told News18: “So far we have decided to open only one store managed by the Government of Mauritius. India will continue to send supplies as needed.” This action came during a meeting between representatives of 91 countries and health ministers at the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“The government sector has contracted HLL Life Care to export these medicines to Mauritius. We are preparing necessary formalities and documents before the opening,” the official said. The official told News18 that this was just an attempt to show the world the Jan Ashadi project. However, this does not mean that the government will take over the role of drug export from Indian pharmaceutical companies in their country. The program was launched by the UPA government in November 2008 under the name Jan Aushadhi Yojana. However, more than a year after Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2015, the program was renamed and relaunched as Pradhan Mantri Bharatiya Janushadi Paryojana (PMBTC). The Ministry of Drugs and the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers are implementing the program through the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Bureau of India (PMBI). India plans to share the Jan Aushadhi Store experience in several other countries, including ASEAN member states (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) and the Bay of Bengal Multilateral Initiative - Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC). It consists of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
