Ayushman Bharat Yojana For A healthy and Content New India

On the 15th of August 2018, during his speech at Red Fort on the day of India’s 72nd Independence, Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the launch of his Flagship Project, The Ayushman Bharat Yojana or National Health Protection Scheme.

Dubbed by ministers and BJP leaders as “Modicare”, This scheme will come into being on the 25th of September 2018(Deendayal Upadhyaya’s Birth anniversary) with the aim to create a network of health and wellness infrastructure across the nation and the provide insurance to cover at least 40 percent of India’s population. This consists of the majority of India’s secondary and tertiary services. Not only that, this scheme also provides employment opportunities under the name Ayushman Mitra.

Lokaa-ayushman scheme

The Yojna incorporates two crucial elements 

1. National Heath Protection Scheme

  • Aims to provide cashless treatment to patients.

  • Will cover over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families.

  • The scheme will also provide coverage of up to 5 lakh rupees per family per year.

2.Health and Wellness Centres

  • Aims at primary patient care.

  • Will provide comprehensive health care, including non-communicable diseases and maternal and child health services.

  • Will provide free essential drugs and diagnostic services.

  • The allocated Budget will be Rs. 1200 crores.

Here are a few of the salient features of this ambitious Scheme

  1. World’s largest government funded health care programme.

  2. It will entail the on-going centrally sponsored schemes – Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana and the Senior Citizen Health Insurance Scheme.

  3. The Program will be rolled out across all States/UTs in all Districts with an objective to cover all the targeted beneficiaries.

  4. Will have a defined benefit cover of Rs. 5 lakh per family per year without any restriction on family size, age or gender.

  5. Beneficiaries can go to any public or empanelled private Hospitals across the country and avail free treatment.

  6. The Health Ministry to fill more than one lakh positions of ayushman mitra.

  7. The Health Ministry cleared that Aadhaar card is not mandatory to avail the benefits of this scheme. Any prescribed ID is enough to receive treatment at the Hospital.

  8. The scheme will be an entitlement based scheme; and the entitlement will be decided on the basis of deprivation criteria in the SECC (Socio-Economic and Caste Census) database. So those families that fall under SECC will automatically be covered

  9. To be co-operative federalism and flexibility to states.

  10. 24 new Government Medical Colleges and Hospitals will be set up, by up-grading existing district hospitals in the country so that there’s at least 1 Medical College for every 3 Parliamentary Constituencies and at least 1 Government Medical College in each State of the country.

  11. 94 IT controls are being provided in order to ensure the safety and security of the personal data of health and to prevent sharing without consent of the person.

  12. The expenditure incurred in premium payment will be shared between Central and State Governments in specified ratio as per Ministry of Finance guidelines in vogue. The total expenditure will be based on the actual market determined premium paid in States/ UTs where the Scheme will be implemented through insurance companies.

In addition to increasing the access to quality health and medication, the Ayushman Bharat Yojana Scheme will also finally cater to the needs of the population; needs which were hidden thanks to the lack of sufficient financial resources. Not just that, it will also lead to timely treatments, improvements in the outcome of health, productivity, efficiency and job creation, hence leading to an improved quality of life.

Now that we are aware of how our Government is paving the path to a new India that is healthier with an improved quality of life, it is our duty as a citizen of this country to spread awareness about this Scheme to people, especially people with limited resources and who you know are inaccessible to media and newspapers. Even if one person benefits from this Scheme because of us, we become better humans.

To know more about this Scheme and to understand the eligibility status, you can access the official page by clicking on this link – https://www.abnhpm.gov.in/

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