For millions of Indian families, buying medicines is not a one-time decision.
It’s a recurring monthly negotiation between
health, trust and affordability.
If generic medicines are cheaper, why aren't they the obvious choice?
India has a large and growing need for affordable medicines, particularly for people managing recurring and chronic conditions. Jan Aushadhi was created to make generic medicines more accessible but affordability alone does not guarantee adoption.
OOPE remains burden
India's OOP health expenditure has reduced from 62.6% to 39.4%, but medicine costs continue to affect household healthcare spending.
Potential price difference
Jan Aushadhi medicines are positioned as significantly more affordable than many branded alternatives.
Branded medicine share
Branded medicines continue to dominate medicine purchases.
Understanding the decision behind the medicine
We wanted to understand what happens between a prescription and a purchase and the factors that shape the choices people make along the way.
We explored four questions
TRUST
What makes people trust or doubt generic medicines?
DECISION MAKING
Who influences the choice of medicine?
ACCESS
What happens when people try to obtain their medicines?
AVAILIBILITY
How does stock availability affect continued access?
A patient’s experience with Jan Aushadhi
- Manages multiple chronic conditions: hypertension, diabetes, hypothyroidism, gastric ulcers, and requires blood thinners.
-
Previously purchased medicines from private pharmacies
for ₹1,502/month. - Switched to Jan Aushadhi in 2021.
-
New monthly cost: ₹306 for the same therapeutic regimen.
~80% cost reduction achieved. - Has used Jan Aushadhi medicines for 3+ years with no adverse side effects reported.
Pilot Study
CHRONIC NEEDS
Long-term conditions require continuous medication, making reliable access important beyond a single purchase.
MIXED SOURCES
Users often combine Jan Aushadhi with private pharmacies and other purchasing options.
PRICE–TRUST PARADOX
Limited awareness and weak doctor endorsement can reduce confidence in generic medicines.
TRUST IS CONTEXTUAL
Store experience, prescription practices and trusted recommendations shape medicine choices beyond cost.
These early signals made it clear that affordability alone does not guarantee adoption.
Issues of trust, accessibility and influence required deeper investigation through contextual inquiry.
The problem wasn't a single touchpoint
The pilot revealed several factors influencing medicine choice. We then looked across patients, doctors, Kendra operators and non-users to understand how these factors connected across the wider medicine access journey.
Contextual Inquiry
TRUST GAP
Low price + Weak Doctor endorsement
= DOUBT
SYSTEM FRICTION
Manual Searches slow buying + Weak Doctor endorsement
= FEELS UNRELIABLE
STOCK UNCERTAINTY
Stock Outs + Long Queue
= BREAKS CONTINUITY
SOCIAL INFLUENCE
Family + Doctors influence
= OUTWEIGH PRICE BENEFITS
Taken together, these observations revealed that Jan Aushadhi’s challenges
are not isolated usability or awareness issues.
They stem from a fragile ecosystem where trust, operational reliability, and cultural
perception intersect, making affordability alone insufficient for sustained adoption.
The Ecosystem
Stakeholder Prioritization Matrix
How different users experience the system
To understand how Jan Aushadhi functions across its ecosystem, we gathered perspectives from four key user groups:
Jan Aushadhi Users, Doctors, Jan Aushadhi Kendra Operators and Non Users.
Jan Aushadhi Users
50% buy both
chronic + regular medicines
65% purchase for 30-day supply at once
Long-term chronic condition users are the core segment of buyers.
Doctors
43% doctors have a habit of
prescribing branded medicines
14% doctors are simply unaware/
misinformed of Jan Aushadhi
Financial incentives and habitual prescribing override empathy for patients.
Jan Aushadhi Kendra Operators
20% app awareness (low adoption
of digital tools)
Supply chain delays (biggest
operational issue)
Expired stock due to low throughput
and no discounts on expired goods.
Operators caught between community need and business viability.
Non Users
57% perceive cheap as low quality
14% are influenced by friends and family
29% follows only doctor's prescription
Quality skepticism and doctor influence leads to adoption blocker for citizens.
Synthesis
We clustered observations across stakeholders to identify patterns that appeared repeatedly across the ecosystem.
TRUST GAP
"Is it fake or real?"
AWARENESS
Word-of-mouth only, no systematic education
SYSTEM
Doctor gatekeeping and supply chain fragility
AVAILABILITY
Stockouts force expensive alternatives
What was really going wrong
While affordability attracts first-time users, it does not ensure continued trust or dependence.
The Jan Aushadhi ecosystem lacks clear, accessible information that helps users confidently evaluate medicine options.
Problem statement
"High out-of-pocket spending on medicines is a major burden for Indian households. This challenge is worsened by the lack of accessible information on medicine options and prices, leaving users dependent on doctors and pharmacists. Patients have little to no easy way of finding reliable information, limiting their ability to make informed and cost-effective choices."
Why this matters
Our final problem statement represents the fundamental cause and most significant pain point for consumers, whose dependency on doctors and pharmacists prevents them from making informed, cost-effective choices.
By addressing this information gap, a solution can not only diminish the financial burden but also positively influence the other issues by empowering customers to seek out and demand more affordable options, there by strengthening the entire ecosystem.
Rethinking how access, trust and information connect
Insights from the research revealed that the core challenges – trust, fragmented information, and dependency on intermediaries could not be addressed through a single interface or touchpoint. The problem extended across prescriptions, medicine discovery, purchase, and follow-up.
This led to the exploration of a unified health card system as a way to connect users, doctors, and Jan Aushadhi Kendras through a shared layer of reliable information. Rather than acting as a product on its own, the card functions as an enabling system bridging prescriptions, medicine equivalence, and user history across physical and digital interactions.
Jan Aushadhi Unified Health Card
System and Application
1. Access Medical History
Patient presents the Unified Health Card and gives
consent for the doctor to view relevant medical
history through the clinic software.
2. Create Digital Prescription
Doctor creates an E-Prescription, which is securely
stored in the central system. Handwritten prescriptions
can also be uploaded and digitised through the app.
3. Identify Medicine Composition
The system automatically strips prescribed
medicines down to their exact composition and
identifies the generic medicine.
4. Explore & Add Alternatives
Medicines based on the same composition are
added to the cart, allowing to explore different
options and price variations.
5. Share Prescription Securely
Patient can visit any pharmacy, including Jan
Aushadhi Kendras or private stores, and share the
specific prescription through a QR code.
6. Approve Purchase & Receive Bill
Pharmacist requests access to the prescription, which the
patient approves through the app. After dispensing, the
pharmacy sends the digital bill directly to the app.
7. Track Medicines & Spending
All prescriptions, purchases, and bills are securely
organized, while the system provides monthly and
yearly medicine-spending insights.
Smart Medicine Search
Users can quickly find medicines by brand, generic
name, or symptoms, making affordable alternatives
easy to access.
Prescription Upload
Users can scan or upload prescriptions, with AI reading
handwritten ones and suggesting both branded and
generic medicine names.
Prescription Management
Users can store prescriptions in one place, making them
easy to access and share with doctors, pharmacies, or
Jan Aushadhi Kendras.
Prescription Sharing & Access Control
Users can securely share specific prescriptions with
pharmacists or Jan Aushadhi Kendra operators, granting
permission-based access for viewing when needed.
Smart Cart Integration
Users can add medicines via prescription uploads or
search, with both branded and corresponding generic
names shown for informed selection.
Detailed Medicine Information
Users can access comprehensive information for each
medicine, including alternative names, uses, side effects,
and FAQs to support informed decision-making.
Pickup Scheduling & Kendra Selection
Users can select a nearby Jan Aushadhi Kendra with full
stock, choose a preferred location, and schedule a
convenient pickup date and time.
My Learnings
A project that shaped my thinking across multiple dimensions of design
PROJECT LEARNINGS
Gained a deeper understanding of the healthcare ecosystem and how Jan Aushadhi operates across different stakeholders
Learned to identify and analyze gaps from multiple user perspectives, including patients, pharmacists, doctors and operators
Applied structured problem-solving by questioning assumptions and exploring multiple solution pathways.
LONG TERM DESIGN LEARNINGS
The deeper you explore a problem, the more complex it gets but that leads to stronger clarity and insights.
Continuously questioning every aspect of a problem results in more thoughtful and effective solutions.
Collaborative thinking consistently leads to richer and more diverse ideas.
A problem that feels small to you can have a life-changing impact on someone else design with empathy.
