Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s flagship scheme Ayushman Bharat has seen approximately 23,387 claims in just 10 days since its launch on 25 September. According to reports, this amounts to claims worth Rs 38 crores that have been settled and poor people across many states have availed healthcare benefits free of cost.
The number of claims settled is from both private and government hospitals. The average claim size per patient has been reportedly Rs 19,357 so far. Dr Indu Bhushan, CEO of Ayushman Bharat has tweeted recently that a total of 1.7 crore beneficiary eligibility letters with family cards have been dispatched to reach thousands of towns and villages.
Reaching to the remotest parts of the country, 1.7 crore Beneficiary eligibility letters with family cards from @PMOIndia are on their way to households in thousands of cities, towns, villages. So satisfying to see these happy beneficiaries in Chattisgarh. @JPNadda @AyushmanNHA pic.twitter.com/nRFn5Tv3gB
— Dr. Indu Bhushan (@ibhushan) October 3, 2018
A report in The Hindu Business Line has stated that by early 32,814 hospitals across the country had applied for empanelment under the scheme, out of the 13,865 have already been empanelled or are in the process of empanelment.
Dinesh Arora, the deputy CEO of Ayushman Bharat had tweeted days back that a woman suffering from cervical cancer, who was admitted in a hospital in the Andaman and Nicobar islands, was flown to receive critical care in a Chennai hospital. The treatment and transportation costs were all borne under the Ayushman Bharat scheme.
So satisfying @PMOIndia. 67yr old poor lady of Diglipur North Andaman came to GBPH Gyane OPD wt bleeding. Diagnosed as Cervix cancer. Since radiotherapy not available at Islands, patient freely treated at MIOT Chennai under #AyushmanBharat includ transportation costs @ibhushan
— Dr Dinesh Arora (@drdineshias) September 30, 2018
Though the scheme is still facing initial hiccups with some hospitals facing technical issues, unavailability of Ayush Mitras in all the hospitals and transition problems from pre-existing schemes o the new one, the work is seeing rapid progress and the initial worries are expected to be streamlined soon.
When the scheme launched, five states, namely, Telangana, Odisha, West Bengal, Delhi and Punjab had declared not to adopt the central scheme. Of these states, while Odisha has already launched its own healthcare scheme named Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojna, the Punjab government had declared yesterday that they would be joining the Ayushman Bharat scheme.
The Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna or Ayushman Bharat has been praised globally as the largest universal healthcare scheme in the world. The scheme aims to provide free healthcare to 10 crore poor families in India, benefiting about 50 crore Indians. The director general of WHO had praised the scheme and had called it a ‘great commitment recently.
