NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said that the Janaushadhi Yojana is becoming a big friend of poor and middle class families, besides emerging as the medium of both service and employment. He called upon people to access affordable medicines from Janaushadhi centres.
On Sunday, the 7500th centre of Janaushadhi at Shillong was unveiled. “The scheme is providing affordable medicine to people in hilly areas, Northeast and tribal areas. The dedication of 7500th center is important as there were not even 100 centres in India six years ago,’ said the Prime Minister, while asking for meeting the target of 10000 centers soon.
The Prime Minister stated that the poor and middle class families are saving about Rs 3600 crore every year on expensive medicines. “The scheme is promoting Aatamnirbharta among women as more than 1000 centers are being run by the women. In order to promote the scheme, incentive has been enhanced from Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 5 lakh with additional incentive of Rs 2 lakh for Dalit, Aadivasi women and people of the Northeast,” he added.
The Prime Minister noted that the demand for India made medicines and surgery has increased. “Production is also increasing to keep up with the increasing demand. A large number of employment opportunities are also being created. Now 75 AYUSH medicines are also available in Jan Aushadhi centers. Patients will benefit by getting AYUSH medicines cheaply and the field of Ayurveda and AYUSH Medicine will also be benefitted,” added the Prime Minister.