Udaipur, February 2024.

As many as 2,475 PACS)/Cooperative Societies have been given initial approval by the Pharmaceuticals & Medical Devices Bureau of India (PMBI), Department of Pharmaceuticals (GOI) to operate Jan Aushadi Kendras.

Out of 2,475 initial approvals given to PACS/ Cooperative Societies, 617 drug licenses have already been issued by the State Drug Controllers, which are ready to function
as Jan Aushadhi Kendras.

This information was given by Cooperation Minister Amit Shah in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

It may be mentioned that a total number of 4,629 PACS/Cooperative Societies from 34 States/UTs have so far applied online for operating Jan Aushadhi Kendras.

The Minister further said that online training has been provided to more than 1000 PACS/ Cooperative Societies by PMBI.

In order to improve the access of generic medicines to the rural citizens, PACS have been
allowed by the Government to operate Jan Aushadhi Kendras under the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Jan Aushadhi Pariyojana of Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Government of India.

PACS functioning as Jan Aushadhi Kendras will be able to provide quality generic medicines at affordable prices to common people at the Village/Block Level which are 50-90 per cent less than that of branded medicines in the open market, including around 2,000 drugs and around 300 surgical items. PACS also will get additional employment opportunities and additional revenue streams.

As per National Cooperative Database, there are 1,03,369 PACS in the country. However, they are not evenly distributed across all regions.

In order to address their skewed distribution, the Government, on 15.02.2023, has approved the Plan for establishing new multipurpose PACS or primary dairy/ fishery cooperative societies covering all the uncovered Panchayats/ village in the country in the next five years, Minister Shah informed.

Under the Centrally Sponsored Project for Computerization of PACS, the Government of India share of Rs 488.42 Crore has been released to 28 States/UTs for procurement of hardware, digitization of legacy data and setting up support system.