Poor and middle class families were saving about Rs 3,600 crore every year on medicines, PM Narendra Modi said

Noting that the Janaushadhi Yojana of the union government was becoming a big friend of poor and middle-class families, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday called for reaching a target of setting up 10,000 Janaushadhi centres across the country.

“The effort of the government today is to make the treatment cheaper, accessible for everyone. With this thinking, policies and programs are being made today,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing the ‘Janaushadhi Diwas’ celebrations through video conference on Sunday.

While dedicating the 7500th Janaushadhi centre at NEIGRIHMS, Shillong, he pointed out that this was an indication of the spread of such centres in the Northeast.

The objective of the Pradhan Mantri Janaushadhi Yojana is to make quality medicines available at affordable to all, particularly the poor and the disadvantaged.

Prime Minister Modi added that the project's network had spread rapidly and reached as many people as possible. Noting that the Janaushadhi Yojana was becoming a big friend of poor and middle class families, he said it was becoming a medium of both service and employment.

Through the Janaushadhi Scheme, poor and middle class families were saving about Rs 3,600 crore every year on expensive medicines, the Prime Minister pointed out. He added that the scheme was promoting Aatamnirbharta among women as more than 1,000 centers were being run by the women.

He remarked that in order to promote the scheme, the incentive had been enhanced from 2.5 lakh to 5 lakh with additional incentive of 2 lakh for Dalit, Aadivasi women and people of the Northeast.

During his interaction with beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana, he appealed to them to spread the word about the benefits of Janaushadhi, assuring that “you are my family and your ailment is ailment of my family members, that is why, I want all my countrymen to stay healthy.”

Noting that the demand for India-made medicines and surgery had increased, and consequently the production was also increasing to keep up with the increasing demand, he said a large number of employment opportunities were also being created.

Arguing that for a long time, the government's thinking treated health only as a subject of just disease and treatment, Modi said the topic of health was not confined to just disease and treatment but affected the economic and social fabric of the country.

He called for a holistic approach to health, saying the Government had worked on the causes of disease too. He cited the Swachch Bharat Abhiyan, free LPG connections, Ayushman Bharat, Mission Indradhanush, Poshan Abhiyan and recognition to yoga to illustrate the holistic nature of the Government approach towards health.

Pointing out the enormous burden of medical treatment on the poor families, the Prime Minister said efforts were being made to remove all types of discrimination in medical treatment.