September 24, 2018
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched India’s ambitious healthcare program on Sunday.
Deemed the “world’s largest government-funded healthcare programme”, the scheme will cover half a billion people through its network of hospitals and support services.
Speaking at the event, the PM said that the number of beneficiaries is equivalent to the total population of the United States, Canada and Mexico or the entire European Union. “This is a major step taken to fulfil the vision of providing better healthcare facilities to the poorest of the poor and to those standing last in the queue,” the PM said. Following the launch, the PM informed the gathering that the scheme covers diseases such as cancer, heart diseases, kidney and liver problems, diabetes and over 1300 various ailments.
“The treatment of the diseases can not only be done in government hospitals but also private hospitals,” said the PM adding that 13,000 hospitals around the country have become part of the programme.
The Programme
The “Ayushman Bharat” programme has two components – the creation of 150,000 health and wellness centres which will provide Comprehensive Primary Health Care (CPHC) and the PMJAY which provides health protection cover to poor and vulnerable families for secondary and tertiary care.
PMJAY primarily targets the poor, deprived rural families and identified the occupational category of urban workers’ families as per the latest Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) data for both rural and urban areas.
States have the option to use an existing trust/society or set up a new trust/society to implement the scheme as a State Health Agency and will be free to choose the modalities for implementation.
It can implement the Scheme through an insurance company or directly through the Trust/Society/Implementation Support Agency or a mixed approach.
The pilot launch of the scheme has already started in around 22 states and Union Territories and so far 30 states and union territories have signed a Memorandum of Understanding and started working on the implementation of the mission.