Modicare Off To A Healthy Start: Ayushman Bharat Crosses 1 Lakh Beneficiaries

NDA government’s one of the most ambitious projects dubbed as ModiCare, Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojna (AB-PMJAY) has crossed the threshold of one lakh subscribers within a month of its launch. The Hindustan Times has reported.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the mega-health scheme, Dr Indu Bhushan, tweeted the following on Sunday morning.

The CEO added that though the stabilisation of the project would still take a couple of months, the real impact on the everyday lives of citizens could be discernible within a year or two.

The IT-based platform of the scheme makes it easy to track patients, maintain records and reimburse the money. The government has also devised an off-line module as an alternative to deal with the cases of internet connectivity problem.

Vineet Kumar, who issues cards under the scheme at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS), Rohtak, Haryana is quoted by HT as saying, “There are also fewer chances of fraud as any duplication or another anomaly will be easily picked up by the software.”

The beneficiary are selected on the basis of the Socio-Economic Caste Census 2011 to further reduce the chances of exclusion and inclusion errors.

Around 7000 hospitals, all of them state-run, have been impanelled to treat patients under the scheme while another 8000 are in the process of being impanelled.

The Ayushman Bharat scheme was launched by the Prime Minister on September 23 this year. It aims to provide healthcare insurance cover of upto Rs. 5 lakh per family to 10.74 crore families. The scheme would benefit approximately 55 crore people, making it the world’s largest government healthcare programme.

Although the scheme has been welcomed as the right step towards affordable healthcare, government is cautioned against poor internet connectivity and lack of availability of funds which can affect the implementation the programme.