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GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS
DEPARTMENT OF PHARMACEUTICALS
RAJYA SABHA
STARRED QUESTION No. 335
TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 24th MARCH, 2026
Availability of essential medicines in Government hospitals
335 # Shri Brij Lal:
Will the Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers be pleased to state:
(a) whether Government has assessed the availability of essential medicines in Government
hospitals;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) the steps taken to encourage the availability of affordable medicines through the Pradhan
Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP);
(d) the number of Janaushadhi Kendras currently operational across the country;
(e) whether there is a proposal to include additional categories of medicines under the scheme; and
(f) if so, the details thereof?
ANSWER
THE MINISTER IN THE MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS
(SHRI JAGAT PRAKASH NADDA)
(a) to (f): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.Statement referred to in reply to the RAJYA SABHA STARRED Q. No. 335 for answer on
24.03.2026 raised by Shri Brij Lal regarding 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.
The product basket under the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojna 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.
With a view to ensure accessibility and availability of medicines at JAKs, the following
measures are in place:(i) An end-to-end information-technology-enabled supply chain system consisting currently
of five warehouses and 41 distributors across the country, is in place.
(ii) Since September 2024, stocking by Jan Aushadhi Kendras (JAKs) of 200 commonly used
medicines, consisting of the 100 top-selling medicines in the product basket and 100 fast-
selling medicines in the market, is incentivised with JAK owners being eligible to receive
monthly incentive based on the stocks that they maintain of these medicines.
(iii) In addition, with a view to ensure availability of commonly used products, 400 fast-
moving products are monitored regularly by the scheme implementing agency
{Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Bureau of India (PMBI)} and demand for the
same is forecasted on an ongoing basis. Further, steps have been taken to digitise the
forecasting method to augment the procurement process through automation.
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.
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