The Business Bytes
TBB BUREAU
NEW DELHI, NOV 26, 2020
The Union Government has provided over 1.4 crore cashless treatments worth over Rs. 17,500 crore to the poorest citizens under Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY).
This was stated by Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan here today during review of the implementation of the flagship health protection mission AB PM-JAY, which was implemented on September 23, 2018.
“In these unprecedented times, I am pleased to know that more than 1.4 crore cashless treatments worth over Rs. 17,500 crore have been provided to the poorest citizens under Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY. During the height of the pandemic, Government of India has been careful to not lose focus away from critical illnesses and ensured that all those needing such essential healthcare were provided the same. This has resulted in savings of nearly Rs. 35,000 crore to the people,” said Dr. Vardhan.
Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) is the flagship scheme of Government of India that provides a cover of up to Rs. 5 lakh per family per year, for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization to over 10.74 crore vulnerable entitled families. The scheme covers 1,592 procedures under various health benefit packages with defined rates. Over 24,000 hospitals and health facilities providers have been empanelled across the country to provide healthcare services to the beneficiaries under this scheme.
During the review meeting the Minister informed that the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) will digitalize healthcare by creating a country-wide digital health ecosystem that will enable patients to store, access and consent to share their health records with doctors and health facilities of their choice.
The Minister visited the National Health Authority (NHA) office where he was given a demo of the key systems of NDHM – HealthID, DigiDoctor, Health Facility Registry, eHospital, Patient Health Records and Consent Manager by Dr. Indu Bhushan, CEO, National Health Authority in presence of Dr. Praveen Gedam, Additional CEO and Dr. Vipul Aggarwal, Deputy CEO, NHA.
“NDHM will empower millions of citizens without smartphones or those in remote tribal areas facing connectivity issues to still avail healthcare through its offline modules,” said Dr. Vardhan.
