It will be the second round-the-clock store in Punjab after the first was opened in Amritsar on November 25.

After Mohali, Paswan will open Haryana’s first similar store at Civil Hospital in Sector 6, Panchkula, on the same day.

These government-assisted retail stores will sell unbranded generic medicines as part of the Centre’s multi-stakeholder strategy to make affordable medicines accessible to people. The plan involves drug-making public sector units, pharmaceutical companies and non-government organisations.

The shops will be run by NGOs, selected in consultation with the respective state governments, and a two-track supply will be tied up through PSUs and private drug companies to ensure alternate supply chains and an enhanced basket of products, said an official.

Paswan will also inaugurate an SME Pharma Centre, a first-ever facility for small and medium-sized pharmaceutical units, at the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) in Mohali.