40 women-centric drugs to be sold at cheaper rates

NEWDELHI: The Centre has decided to provide 40 women-centric medicines and medical products such as folic acid, multivitamins, and biodegradable sanitary pads at discounted rates at 6,318 Jan Aushadhi Kendras in 726 districts across the country.

A decision to this effect was taken during a meeting between the ministries of women and child development and of chemicals and fertilizers on April 27. An official familiar with the development said the medicines will be made available at a third of the market prices in some cases.

The inventory of the womencentric products has increased since the lockdown, said Sachin Singh, CEO of the Bureau of Pharma PSUs of India (BPPI), that runs the Jan Aushadhi Kendras. “We started with just 200 types of medicines in our entire inventory, now we have 1,250 medicines and 200 surgical products,” he said.

Most of these products are broadly divided hygienic and nutritional products, and gynaecological medicines, Singh said. Sanitary pads are available for anywhere between ~4 and 16, while prices of supplements such as folic acid, calcium, multivitamins range between ~4 and 30.

The medicines available are in line with the World Health Organization’s good manufacturing practice (GMP) guidelines.

The ministry had, last month, released an app, where users can access the locations of these centres.