Availability of Essential Medicines in Government Hospitals
As per information provided by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoH&FW) to ensure availability of essential drugs and reduce the Out-of-Pocket Expenditure (OOPE) of the patients visiting the public health facilities, Government has rolled out the Free Drugs Service Initiative (FDSI) under National Health Mission (NHM). Under this, financial support is provided to States / Union Territories for provision of free essential medicines in public health facilities based on the requirements posed by them in their Programme Implementation Plans (PIPs) within their overall resource envelope.
MoH&FW has recommended facility wise Essential Medicines List (EML) including drugs for cancer treatment to be made available at the public healthcare facilities:
Sub Health Centre Health & Wellness Centre (SHC-HWCs) – 106
Primary Health Centre Health & Wellness Centre (PHC-HWCs) – 172
Community Health Centres (CHCs) – 300
Sub-District Hospital – 318
District Hospital (DHs) – 381
Support under the scheme is available for Procurement of drugs and strengthening /setting up robust systems of procurement, Quality Assurance, Supply chain management and warehousing, Prescription audit, grievance redressal, dissemination of Standard Treatment Guidelines and Establishment of IT enabled platform DVDMS (Drugs & Vaccine Distribution Management System) for monitoring the real status of procurement and availability of essential medicines. To facilitate the monitoring of supply chain management activity at National level, a Central Dashboard has been developed. Few states have implemented the roll out of the DVDMS portal till Sub health centres while many others are attempting to do so for the successful monitoring of the real status of procurement and availability of essential medicines.
Furthermore, under the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana of Department of Pharmaceutical, Ministry of Chemical & Fertilizer a total of 18,646 Jan Aushadhi Kendras (JAKs) have been opened across the country as on 28.02.2026, out of which 2,370, Jan Aushadhi Kendras has been opened specifically in Government hospitals to provide medicines at rates that are about 50% to 80% cheaper than those of branded medicines.
A total of 1127 Jan Aushadhi Kendras are opened in the State of Bihar as on 28.02.2026 for providing affordable medicines under the Scheme.
Total 23 applications (09 in Narkatiagant and 14 in Bagaha) have been received from West Champaran district of Bihar. These Kendras are established and made functional after obtaining initial approval from Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Bureau of India (PMBI) and obtaining of requisite license from State Drug Licensing Authorities.
The Government has adopted a franchise-like model for opening of JAKs by inviting online applications from individual entrepreneurs, non-governmental organisations, societies, trusts, firms, private companies, etc. Any individual having D. Pharma. or B. Pharma. qualification either herself/himself or any individual or organisation who has employed a person with such qualification as a pharmacist for obtaining drug licence from the State Licensing Authority concerned is eligible to open a Jan Aushadhi Kendra. Online applications have been invited from all districts of the country, including West Champaran district, Bihar through the website www.janaushadhi.gov.in.
The product basket under the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Yojna has 2,110 medicines and 315 surgicals, medical consumables and devices, covering all major therapeutic groups, such as cardiovascular, anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, anti-infectives, anti-allergic and gastro-intestinal medicines and nutraceuticals. Almost all generic medicines included in the National List of Essential Medicines, except lab reagents and vaccines, are part of the product basket.
The product basket has been reviewed from time to time by a committee to evaluate the market demand of existing and newly launched/off-patent medicines, based on feedback and analysis from JAKs, citizens and market reports.
This information was given by Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers, Smt. Anupriya Patel, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.
