Dear Friends,
In the last three years, AB PM-JAY scheme has achieved several milestones in achieving the target of Universal Health Coverage. Till date, more than 2 crore treatments have been provided to the beneficiary under the scheme. More than 17 crore beneficiaries have been verified through Beneficiary Identification System (BIS) and have been provided with Ayushman cards.
This year, on 23rd September, 2021—National Health Authority (NHA) celebrated Arogya Manthan 3.0 to mark the three years of successful implementation of AB PM-JAY. The journey so far has been enthralling with stories full of triumph and joy across India. During this short span of time, we had come across many challenges and learnings which helped us to scale and strengthen the functioning of the scheme. The scheme has widened its arm across 33 States/Union Territories bringing ease to the beneficiary’s life while availing the treatment.
In my humble opinion, Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY has witnessed a phenomenal growth and touched the lives of millions by providing them free secondary, tertiary and day care procedures for treatment of diseases and medical conditions through a vast network of more than 24,000 Empanelled Health Care Providers (EHCP). The scheme has provided citizens with ‘Right to Health’ which is a fundamental to ‘Right to life’.
PM-JAY has proved to be a boon for our mothers and sisters by providing them with the “gift of health.” Of the total number of beneficiaries who has got benefitted under the scheme, over half of them are women. This momentous feat has been only possible due to the constant team work at the ground level.
This year as we celebrate ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ to mark the 75th Independence Day, the National Health Authority is paying tribute to women achievers who did remarkable in their respective field. The third edition of Coffee Table Book 3.0—"Ayushman Bharat: Atma Nirbhar Nari” launched this year by Hon’ble PM Shri Narendra Modi, has a collection of 75 success stories of women beneficiaries who have availed the services under the scheme. Each story narrated in the Coffee Table Book are put together to make women empower with their Right to Health. Kudos to everyone at NHA who have put the event together.
PM-JAY’s state-of-art IT platform makes the scheme complete cashless and paperless. It enables us with real time monitoring of the entire ecosystem. Technology has made process smoother and simpler for (i) hospital empanelment (ii) claim process adjustments (iii) verification of beneficiary’s identity.
As we all know, NHA has zero-tolerance against fraudulent activities. In this regard, we have taken major steps for anti-fraud prevention, detection and control. Strong policies and advisories have been for necessary actions.
A new initiative launched this year--- Abhinandan Patra and Adhikar Patra is a step to empower every beneficiary and develop self confidence among them to know about their rights and benefits while seeking treatment under the scheme.
Ayushman Mitra initiative launched this year is a voluntary step to engage people’s participation in order to achieve the vision of Universal Health Coverage. Under this initiative, any citizen of India can become Ayushman Mitra for the noble cause to sensitize eligible beneficiary about Ayushman Bharat scheme.
We are always determined to work on newer ideas to develop scheme further. We are working towards institutional mechanism for continued rationalization of HBP (Health Benefit Packages). Recently, we have revised the Health Benefit Package Master to HBP 2.2 under the scheme. A new package related to black fungus has been added while rates for around 400 procedures have been revised. The revision of HBP 2.2 will not only to increase the uptake of scheme in private hospitals but also encourage more private hospitals join hands with PM-JAY. Apart from this, we are already brainstorming on new HBP under the HBP 3.0 initiative.
I believe these are the small joys we have achieved, yet we have to travel a long road to cover more than 54 crore beneficiaries. And if continue to work with same zeal and spirit, very soon we will be able to achieve our goal.
Thank you!
Happy Reading!