New Delhi (NVI): With nine hospital admissions every minute across the country, in the first year, the government’s flagship health assurance scheme Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana speaks its own success story.
Lauding the progress of the scheme, Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said, “The Ayushman Bharat family is growing by leaps and bounds. In just over one year, under PM-JAY more than 50 lakh treatments have been availed by beneficiaries across the country. But, this is just the beginning for this path-breaking scheme. We are grateful to our Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi ji for his visionary leadership. The successful implementation of this scheme will help us take forward Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay’s vision of “Antyodaya” – the upliftment of the last man, such that this deprived man gets the benefits of development. The aim of our government is to make Bharat “Rog mukt and Ayushmaan!”
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Indu Bhushan, CEO, National Health Authority (NHA) said “Fifty lakh hospital treatments is a significant milestone for PM-JAY, but there is a long journey ahead. The scheme will continue to focus on reducing catastrophic out-of-pocket health expenditure, improving access to quality health care and meeting the unmet need of the population for hospitalisation care, so that we move towards the vision of universal health coverage. Empowering the poorest people in the country with the assurance of Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY is a major area of focus for us.”
The states of Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh have emerge as the top performing states.
As on October 14, more than 10.9 crore E-Cards have been issued while 50 lakh hospital treatments have been provided. As many as Rs 7,901 cr have been authorized for admissions and 18,486 hospitals empanelled.
In just one year, half crore hospital treatments have been provided under this scheme, which is the world’s largest fully government funded health assurance scheme.
This ambitious programme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 23, last year.
Today the scheme crossed 50 lakh treatments mark. These secondary and tertiary level treatments worth Rs 7,901 crores have been carried out in the 32 States and Union Territories implementing the scheme.
More than 60 percent of the amount spent has been on tertiary care with cardiology, orthopaedics, radiation oncology, cardio-thoracic and vascular surgery, and urology emerging as the top tertiary specialities.
PM-JAY is a partnership of public and private sector health systems. The 50 lakh hospital admissions have taken place in the public and empanelled private hospitals that provide care to the beneficiaries under the scheme.
To date, 18,486 hospitals have been empanelled across India. In the first year, 53 percent of the empanelled hospitals are private, especially multi-specialty hospitals.
So far, the scheme has been implemented in 32 States and Union Territories, and there are more than 50,000 portability cases, wherein migrant and travelling eligible Indians have availed their treatment outside their home states.
The aim of PM-JAY is to bring quality healthcare to more than 50 crore poor and vulnerable Indians across the country. The scheme gives annual healthcare benefits of up to Rs five lakh for every entitled family, and provides cashless and paperless access to services for the beneficiary at the point of service.
The NHA is responsible for providing the overall stewardship for design, roll-out, implementation and management of Ayushman Bharat – PMJAY at the national level.
The Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY provides a cover of up to Rs 5 lakhs per family per year, for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation to over 10.74 crore vulnerable entitled families. It provides cashless and paperless access to services for the beneficiary at the point of service.
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