"Delhi's Health Schemes Superior To Centre's Ayushman Bharat Yojana": AAP Responds To BJP MPs Plea In High Court

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has responded to the plea of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members of Parliament (MP) for the implementation of Centre's Ayushman Bharat Yojana in Delhi.

The Delhi High Court has been informed that the medical insurance scheme of Ayushman Bharat was not implemented because it would undermine the existing health schemes in Delhi, which offer "superior" benefits to residents.

The Health and Family Welfare Minister of Delhi, Saurabh Bharadwaj, stated in an affidavit that implementing the Centre's scheme would lead to a downgrade in the city's current health provisions.

He stated that the BJP MPs' plea, which appears to be a public interest litigation, is nothing more than a politically driven plea, lodged in anticipation of the upcoming legislative assembly elections in Delhi.

"The petitioners are political persons, who belong to the principal opposition party in Delhi. The said political party has been trying to impose its wishes on Delhi, even though they were able to win only 10 per cent of the seats in the last election to the legislative assembly," the affidavit said.

The Delhi Minister expressed that the petition excessively lauds the Central Government's scheme. He further stated that replacing the existing schemes in the capital with the Centre's scheme would result in a loss for the residents of Delhi.

The affidavit asserted that in a federal structure in India, it is not mandatory for every political unit to follow the policy of the Central Government, particularly when the schemes and the policies already in operation and functioning.

The government of Delhi has criticised the Centre for utilising data from the 2011 Census for the Ayushman Bharat scheme. Labeling it as "old and archaic", they argued that the scheme fails to account for ongoing changes.

"There are various limiting factors in the scheme framed by the Central Government," the affidavit said alleging that Centre's scheme will render many people ineligible for benefits under the scheme, while they are being provided free medical services by the Delhi government.

"Any scheme which is based upon an outdated data can by no stretch of imagination be thrust down the throat of any other government or for that matter people," the affidavit added.

In response to the AAP government, BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj asserted that the Delhi government lacks the intention to carry out the central scheme. She emphasised that the central scheme was designed not to replace the initiatives of the state government, but rather to bolster them.