MANGALURU: Dakshina Kannada district is gradually inching towards its avowed objective of opening 100 new Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Kendra (PMBJK). Licensed out by the Bureau of Pharma Public Sector Undertakings of India (BPPI), these jan aushadhi Kendras will provide generic drugs to people at near nominal cost thereby paring the household healthcare bill by nearly 70-80% including for a few critical lifesaving drugs.
Dakshina Kannada Member of Parliament Nalin Kumar Kateel who inaugurated one such Kendra opposite Urwa market, also his ward under Mangaluru City Corporation limits here on Sunday, told TOI that but for the pandemic, the district would have reached the above target. As on date, there are 67 such Kendra’s functioning in the district including 20-odd in the city corporation limits and the rest will be made functional soon.
Providing health care facilities including lifesaving medicines at a price that the common man can afford is integral to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision. This is one of the reasons that the government has capped the price of stents, cost of knee replacement surgery and introduced Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana. The kendras will form an integral part of this vision by providing lifesaving drugs at affordable rates, the MP said.
Each such Kendra opened is a tribute to H N Ananth Kumar, Nalin said recalling the former minister for chemicals and fertilisers contribution to conceptualising their roll out pan India. “It is our fortune that his successor D V Sadananda Gowda has taken forward this task across the country under which there will be one such Kendra in each of the 630-odd districts,” he said, adding DK will reach its target of 100 Kendras by end of this fiscal.