Karnataka Congress govt to close Jan Aushadhi outlets

Fresh conflict is emerging between the Congress government in Karnataka and the Centre as the state health and medical education departments have decided to shut down Jan Aushadhi outlets in state government hospitals. This decision could add to the ongoing tensions between the state and Centre over various issues.

Jan Aushadhi outlets provide quality generic drugs at affordable rates under the Centre's Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi scheme. Currently, these outlets operate at a limited number of government facilities, including KC General Hospital in Bengaluru. However, health department officials have indicated plans to close them soon. This decision might aggravate existing disputes over authority over HMT Ltd land, repairs of the Tungabhadra dam crest gate, and Karnataka's share of the devolution of taxes.

The Karnataka BJP has announced plans to launch an agitation in response to this decision. On the other hand, Congress functionaries argue that government hospitals offer medicines for free and that having Jan Aushadhi outlets on the premises could lead to corruption. Despite this, government officials clarified that they are not against Jan Aushadhi outlets located outside hospital premises.


BJP state president BY Vijayendra criticized the Congress government’s action, stating, "The state government’s move reflects the hate politics of Congress. Earlier, it dropped the scheme introduced by the BS Yediyurappa-led government to provide an additional grant of Rs 4,000 to farmers under the Centre’s Kisan Samman Yojana. Now, it is going all out to ban Jan Aushadhi outlets meant for poor patients. We will fight this." He highlighted that approximately 20 lakh households benefit from the Jan Aushadhi scheme and that there are about 8,900 centres across the state.

The controversy intensified late on Tuesday when medical education minister Sharan Prakash Patil declared that Jan Aushadhi outlets are no longer necessary in government-run hospitals, including those under his department. He mentioned that the 22 hospitals affiliated with medical colleges, 11 government super specialty hospitals, and 158 district and taluk-level hospitals managed by the health department are sufficient to meet the medical needs of the poor.