Karnataka plans to shut down Jan Aushadhi Kendras in state govt hospitals, says it provides free medicines

The Karnataka government’s decision to shut down Jan Aushadhi Kendras (JAKs), the low-cost generic medicine retail shops that are functioning within the government hospital premises across the state, has resulted in a political slugfest.

In a post on social media platform X on May 20, Shobha Karandlaje, Union Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and Labour & Employment, said the Congress government is shutting down nearly 200 kendras in PHCs, CHCs, taluk and district Hospitals “snatching away access to affordable medicines for the poor”. State health minister Dinesh Gundu Rao, however, explained saying these hospitals provide free medicines and diagnostic services already, and hence, did not require a fair-priced medical shop that sells medicines.

Rao told news agency ANI that the state government’s policy was that the patients visiting government hospitals should get free medicine and diagnostics. “We don't want to have a place where medicines are sold... Hardly 15% of the total Jan Aushadhi Kendras are in my hospitals, and our policy is that there should not be any sale of medicines in our government hospitals... Those kendras that are already working or have been established will be slowly weeded out so that we don't have any in our hospitals", Rao said.

However, Karandlaje, who is also a BJP MP from Karnataka, termed the decision as “anti-poor, anti-healthcare and anti-livelihood”. She said the scheme offered generic medicines at 70–90% lower prices, saving the public nearly ₹40 crore annually.

Incidentally, the government decision will not impact most of the JAKs functioning in the state. With 1,459 operational JAKs, Karnataka has the third highest number of such stores after Uttar Pradesh (2,658) and Kerala (1,528) in the country. The number of JAKs across India stood at 15,057 as on February 28.

The Central government claims that the medicines procured for JAKs are only from the World Health Organization–Good Manufacturing Practices (WHO-GMP) certified manufacturers. Each batch of drug is tested at laboratories accredited by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) for ensuring best quality. According to the scheme, an incentive up to ₹20,000 per month is given at 20% of monthly purchases made and subject to the stocking mandate at the JAKs.