“Janaushadhi Diwas” week to be observed from 1st to 7th March, 2022

The Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Bureau of India (PMBI), under the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) is going to celebrate fourth Jan Aushadhi Diwas by organising week-long celebrations at different locations across the country covering all states/Union Territories (UTs). This will generate awareness about the usages of generic medicines and benefits of Jan Aushadhi Pariyojana.

Various events during the week-long celebrations will be conducted with closed coordination of PMBJKs owners, beneficiaries, state/UT officials, public representatives, doctors, health workers, nurses, pharmacists, Jan Aushadhi Mitras and other stakeholders to discuss about the scheme, its salient features and achievements. All the activities will be organised within the spirit of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav and several events have been planned at 75 locations. The events have been planned in different cities starting from 1st March, 2022 to 7th March, 2022, which will focus on awareness about the Jan Aushadhi scheme, seminars, participation of children, women and NGOs, heritage walks and health walks and many other activities.

The day-wise activities planned to be held across the country are as under:

The main event of Jan Aushadhi Diwas will be held on 7th March, 2022 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare and Chemicals and Fertilizers, and Bhagwant Khuba, Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers will grace the event.

As on 31st January, 2022, the number of stores has increased to 8,675. Under the PMBJP, all 739 districts of the nation have been covered. The scheme ensures easy reach of affordable medicine to the people in every nook and corner of the country. The government has set a target to increase the number of Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Kendras (PMBJKs) to 10,500 by the end of March 2025.

Product basket of PMBJP consists of 1,451 drugs and 240 surgical instruments. Further, new medicines and nutraceutical products like protein powder, malt-based food supplements, protein bar, immunity bar, sanitiser, masks, glucometer, oximeter, etc have been launched. At present, three IT-enabled warehouses of PMBJP are functional at Gurugram, Chennai and Guwahati and fourth one is ready to start operations in Surat. Further, 39 distributors have been appointed across the country to support the supply of medicines to remote and rural areas.