Ayushman Bharat
Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana

It is now time for the private sector to rise up to the challenge posed by Ayushman Bharat in one year since its inception.

The health and wellness centres (HWCs) under the Ayushman Bharat scheme have the potential to help achieve the Universal Health Coverage goal, but inadequate infrastructure and an insufficiently skilled workforce remain major roadblocks.

A healthy India is a wealthy India. For an emerging economic superpower, health of its people is critical for economic productivity. Ayushman Bharat, which recently completed a year of existence, was conceptualised as an insurance based, healthcare delivery model that dovetails both preventive and curative healthcare at a coverage of Rs 5,00,000 per family per year.

Flowing from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visionary leadership, the National Health Policy 2017 was formulated to achieve the highest possible level of good health and well-being, and universal access to good quality healthcare services without anyone having to face financial hardship as a consequence.

The dream of providing universal health coverage (UHC) has never been as close to reality as it is now. As we mark the UHC Day, let us acknowledge that India needs UHC.

Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana will catalyse changes in the health sector. It is not a substitute for a foundation built on primary care.

Recent media reports, including ones in this newspaper, have raised concerns that Ayushman Bharat promotes secondary and tertiary care at the cost of primary care. These reports attribute these concerns to Amartaya Sen’s recent comments on the scheme, which may have been taken out of context.

Ayushman Bharat is a conscious attempt to holistically address health, encompassing prevention, promotion and ambulatory care at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels.

Among the three major specialty services provided by PM-JAY— oncology, cardiology and nephrology — a majority of the users of oncology services are women. However, there are large gender gaps in the use of cardiology and nephrology-related services.

The sight of a family teetering on the brink of hope and despondency, surviving and falling into economic ruin on account of ill health is distressingly common. GoI’s health expenditure at 1.13% of its GDP is the lowest among the emerging developing countries. China’s expenditure is 2.45%, and Thailand’s 2.90% of its GDP.