The Union government has loosened the guidelines for establishing Jan Aushadhi Kendras (JAKs) by eliminating the minimum distance limits in “million-plus cities” and metropolitan areas.

The pharmacy company wants to offer consumers high-quality medications at reasonable costs, and the relaxation of distance limits will help expand its reach.

The Pharmaceuticals & Medical Devices Bureau of India (PMBI), the division in charge of carrying out the program, released an internal memo on September 10 that was referenced in the report.

“It has been decided to incorporate the following modifications in the extant guidelines concerning minimum-distance requirements in the scheme with the aim of improving public accessibility, equitable distribution, and wider outreach of Jan Aushadhi Kendras, particularly in densely populated urban agglomerations,” the document stated.

According to the document, “any two Jan Aushadhi Kendras in seven metropolitan cities—Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Ahmedabad—will not be required to maintain a minimum distance between one another.”

Additionally, “Million-Plus Cities,” or cities with a population of one million or more according to the 2011 Census, will also be eligible for relaxation. According to the study, these cities will not be obliged to keep a minimum distance, unless a Jan Aushadhi Kendra has not operated for two years after it opened.

Major cities like Pune (5.05 million), Surat (4.59 million), Jaipur (3.07 million), Kanpur (2.92 million), Lucknow (2.9 million), Nagpur (2.5 million), Ghaziabad (2.36 million), Indore (2.17 million), Coimbatore (2.15 million), and Kochi (2.12 million) are among the 46 urban agglomerations on the million-plus list.

According to the report, the current regulations are still in effect for smaller towns and other urban areas that do not fall within these categories.

Under the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP), the main program, 16,912 JAKs have been established as of June 30, up from just 80 in 2014. It decreased out-of-pocket costs and increased accessibility to vital medications. These government pharmacies sell generic medications, which are less expensive than name-brand ones but have the same quality and potency.