A serious case has come to light regarding distribution of medicines to patients in Safdarjung Hospital, the country's largest government hospital. Expensive branded medicines are being sold to patients at the Jan Aushadhi Center present in the hospital premises. Whereas according to the rules, only generic medicines should be available at these medicine centers, which are many times cheaper than branded ones. Every day several thousand patients come to OPD in Safdarjung Hospital.
Every day thousands of people come to the OPD of Safdarjung Hospital to show their problems to the doctors. 'Pradhan Mantri Bharatiya Jan Aushadhi Kendra' (PBJAK) is set up in the hospital premises for the patients. Patients get generic medicines at this medicine centre.
The central government itself says that at Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Kendras, patients get high quality generic medicines, surgical equipment and other health related products at 50 to 80 percent lower prices than the market. But at the Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Kendra located in Safdarjung Hospital, branded medicines are available instead of generic medicines. Talking about the price of these branded medicines, they are being sold indiscriminately to the patients in the name of huge discounts at much higher prices than the generic medicines.
Branded medicines at Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Kendra
Branded medicines are being sold at the Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Kendra located in the country's largest hospital. Evidence of this is present near 'Khabargaon'. We spoke to four patients who were taking medicines from the Jan Aushadhi Kendra located near the OPD building at Safdarjung Hospital. Based on the information, it came to light that branded medicines were sold from here to poor patients at high prices. However, the patients were unaware of these things.
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Unitas Healthcare Private Limited's medicine sold to patient
35 year old Subhash Shah, a resident of Bihar and living here in South Delhi, had come to see the doctor in the codiology department of Safdarjung. Subhash was seen by Dr. Mohit Gupta, Senior Resident of the Department of Cardiology. Patient Subhash Shah was standing outside PBJAK after buying medicines. After talking, he showed us his bill, medicines and doctor's prescription. Valsatas-S-50MG Tab medicine of Unitas Healthcare Private Limited Company was written on the bill. That means this medicine was branded, the price of which was Rs 609.38, a discount of 67.50 percent was given on it. After discount, the branded medicine cost the patient Rs 198.
When we talked to patient Subhash Shah about generic medicines and branded medicines, he showed ignorance about it and said that we do not know about it, hence we take medicines from here.
16 year old girl found standing with doctor's prescription
Similarly, a 16-year-old girl named Srishti Bharti had come to the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation with her father Mukesh Kumar. Srishti showed it to Junior Residence Doctor Nivedita Srinivasulu. Srishti Bharti was standing on one side along with her father taking medicine from Pradhan Mantri Bharatiya Jan Aushadhi Kendra. He had doctor's prescription, bills and medicines. He prescribed Cinocal Plus tablets of Avicenna Life Sciences Company. Patient Srishti took two leaves of this medicine worth Rs 322. For this, at the rate of Rs 322, the total amount was Rs 644. PBJAK gave a discount of 22.36 percent on a bill of Rs 644. Accordingly, after applying the discount, Srishti's bill was reduced by Rs 144. Patient Srishti paid Rs 500 to the chemist.
Mohammad Shahadat also got bonded medicine instead of generic one.
At the same time, 40 year old Mohammad Shahadat was standing nearby with medicines, bills and doctor's prescription. Shahadat was looking at his medicines. When asked, he showed his form. He was seen by Dr Twinkle Yadav in the dermatology department. Seeing the doctor's prescription, Prime Minister Bharatiya Jan Aushadhi Kendra referred him to Rockmed Pharma Pvt. A bill was made for Intrazole-SB 130 mg of a company named Ltd. This medicine was also of a branded company, the price of one leaf of which was Rs 240. He had taken three medicine leaves. According to this, the total bill of Shahadat was Rs 720, on which a discount of 41.67 percent was given. In this way, a discount of Rs 300 was given on the medicine and the patient Shahadat had to pay Rs 420 for the bonded medicine.
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Safdarjung Hospital maintains silence!
Regarding this entire incident, when 'Khabargaon' asked Safdarjung Hospital's Public Relations Officer (PRO) Sakshi Chugh for the director's reply on WhatsApp message on October 24, she did not give any reply. Two days later, when we called the PRO on October 26 and asked for information, he asked us to get the answer on mail. On the instructions of the hospital administration, we sent them an official mail on October 27 asking for information regarding the sale of branded medicines instead of generic medicines at Pradhan Mantri Bharatiya Jan Aushadhi Kendra. But even after 24 hours, there was no response from Sajdarjung Hospital in this matter.
After this, again on November 3, we called the hospital administration and asked for information, then they asked for photos of the branded medicines, which we sent to them on WhatsApp. When asked for the answer, he again said that you write your 'answer' and send it on mail and we will give you the answer. On November 3, we sent a mail to the hospital asking 'Why are branded medicines being sold at the Pradhan Mantri Bharatiya Jan Aushadhi Kendra of Safdarjung Hospital?' Wrote again and asked for an official reply but even after two days, no reply was received.
Jan Aushadhi Kendra did not pick up the phone
At the same time, when we tried calling several times on the phone number mentioned on the patients' bills given by the Pradhan Mantri Bharatiya Jan Aushadhi Kendra located at Safdarjung Hospital, but no one picked up the phone.
What do the terms of the tender say?
According to the terms of the tender, it is the responsibility of the Safdarjung Hospital administration to inspect the Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Kendra (PMJAY Centre) every three months. The main objective of this inspection is to ensure that only those medicines are being sold at the centers which have been purchased through the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Bureau of India (PMBI). That is, medicines purchased from outside should not be sold at Jan Aushadhi Centers. Despite this, if other medicines are being sold at these centres, it may be a case of violation of the terms of the tender. In such a situation, questions also arise on the responsibility of regular inspection.
What is Pradhan Mantri Bharatiya Jan Aushadhi Pariyojana?
Let us tell you that with the aim of providing good quality generic medicines at affordable prices to all the people of the country, the Pradhan Mantri Bharatiya Janaushadhi Project was started in November 2008 by the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Government of India. Under this scheme, special outlets called Jan Aushadhi Kendras have been opened to provide generic medicines at cheap prices. By March 2026, more than 19,000 Jan Aushadhi Kendras are operational across the country.
The product basket of PMBJP includes 2100 medicines and 300 surgical items. The scheme is implemented by a society registered under the Societies Registration Act, i.e., Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Bureau of India.
The objective of this scheme is to provide good quality medicines, consumables and surgical items to everyone at affordable prices and reduce the out-of-pocket expenses of the patients. Also, its objective is to make generic medicines popular among the common people and to remove the common thinking that low cost generic medicines are of poor quality or less effective.
However, in the country's second largest government hospital, Safdarjung Hospital, bonded medicines are being sold indiscriminately instead of generic medicines.