Latest news with #JanAushadiKendras
The Hindu
22-05-2025
- Health
- The Hindu
Chief Minister to launch District Day Care Chemotherapy project in Mysuru today
Starting Friday, cancer patients in need of follow-up chemotherapy in 16 districts can get it in their nearby district hospitals. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will symbolically launch the District Day Care Chemotherapy project in Mysuru on Friday. Giving details of the project, Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao told presspersons on Thursday that the day care chemotherapy centres that will be launched simultaneously in 16 districts will function on a hub and spoke model. So far, cancer patients had to visit either the State-run Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology in Bengaluru and Kalaburagi, or private hospitals for chemotherapy. Depending on the number of chemotherapy sessions prescribed, patients had to either get admitted or travel back and forth for follow-up therapy. Now, with the day care centres, patients can get follow-up chemotherapy sessions for solid tumours at the nearest district hospital. Karnataka reports approximately 70,000 new cancer cases (incidence of cancer) annually according to ICMR-NCRP 2023 report. The leading cancer sites include breast (18%), cervical (14%), oral (12%), lung (8%), and colorectal (6%). The incidence of oral cancer in Karnataka is higher than the national average at 12 cases per one lakh population. While the incidence of breast cancer is 35 cases per one lakh female population, incidence of cervical cancer is 15 cases per one lakh women population. 'However, 60% of patients travel more than 100 km for chemotherapy owing to centralised services in major cities, such as Bengaluru, Hubballi, and Mysuru. Due to these logistical issues and travel cost, over 30% of patients drop out of treatment and this has created a need for district day care chemotherapy centres (DCCC),' the Minister said. These centres will not only reduce the urban-rural disparity in cancer care but also minimise travel/hospitalisation costs for stable patients while preventing patients dropping out of treatment, he said. Hub and spoke model The centres to be run on a 'hub and spoke' model, will be established through a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between tertiary care centres and district day care chemotherapy centres. The 16 hub hospitals that have been empanelled are responsible for clinical services. These centres will also manage treatment-related complications, provide specialised diagnostics and staging, conduct PET-CT scan, do molecular profiling, and advanced biopsies apart from providing pathology and radiology support for spoke centres, the Minister said. The spoke centres where DCCCs will function provide chemotherapy administration, adjuvant/palliative chemo, pre-chemo workup, basic lab tests and ECG monitoring. Jan Aushadi Kendras closure only on government hospital premises Clarifying that no sale and purchase of drugs/medicines will be permitted on government hospital premises, Mr. Dinesh Gundu Rao said all Jan Aushadi Kendras running on hospital premises will be closed down. 'There are around 1,400 such kendras in the State and of these, around 180 are functioning on hospital premises. Our policy is to provide free medicine to patients. With such centres running on hospital premises, there are chances of misuse and doctors can write prescriptions for patients to buy from there. We want to stop this,' he reiterated. 'No need to panic about COVID at this stage' Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao, who asserted that there is no need to panic about COVID-19 at this stage, said the State is closely monitoring the situation. 'We have been getting sporadic COVID-19 cases and as of now there are 32 active cases in the State. But this is not an outbreak of the new strain,' he said. Pointing out that there are no guidelines or instructions from the Centre as of now, the Minister said the State's Technical Advisory Committee is monitoring the situation. 'As of now there is no need for us to step up testing or initiate any measures,' he added.
The Hindu
10-05-2025
- Health
- The Hindu
Government gives the nod for setting up ‘Jan Aushadi Kendras' at all GGHs in Andhra Pradesh
In a bid to check the retailers' exploitation of consumers and ensure availability of generic medicines at affordable prices, Minister for Health, Medical Education and Family Welfare Y. Satya Kumar Yadav has approved the setting up of Jan Aushadi Kendras at all the 17 Government General Hospitals (GGHs) in the State. These Jan Aushadi Kendras will be run by the Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS) headed by the District Collectors. According to an official release, Mr. Satya Kumar Yadav approved the proposal during a review meeting on Saturday, and also directed the officials to explore the possibility of opening such kendras at the district and area hospitals as well. Fleecing of patients The decision was taken after it came to the officials' notice that the existing operators of generic medical shops at the GGHs were charging a profit margin of anywhere between 50% and 600%. While these stores were at first allocated to the self-help groups and other societies, it was found that private individuals were running them to extract profits. At present, 23 generic medicine stores were functioning at the 16 GGHs, except at the Nandyal GGH. The release said the manufacturers print higher than the original MRP, against which the retailers were offering different discounts at different places on different medicines, and in the process were making huge profits, whose margin was anywhere between 50% and 600%. The officials also noted that the retailers were not storing all the required drugs, and that they make available only 30-40% of these, forcing the patient to shift to branded drugs, which happen to be pricier. The absence of a compulsory billing system was also leading to sale of medicines for higher profits. Launched in 2008 as Jan Aushadhi Scheme by the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, the now-renamed 'Pradhan Mantri- Bharatiya Jan Aushadi Pariyojana' (PM-BJP) enables supply of quality generic drugs at affordable prices to the patients across the country. Under the scheme, the Department of Pharmaceuticals procures generic drugs with standard MRP, printed for supplying to the Jan Aushadi shops, which in turn sell them with only 15% profit margin. Every sale is to be recorded on the special software developed by the Central government that prevents malpractices. The Jan Aushadi stores sell only generic medicines, and if the same is not available for a particular disease, they sell branded ones, after approval from the authorities.
