A record number of over 1.36 crore Ayushman Cards have been created for beneficiaries of the PM Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) scheme this month, the highest-ever in any month since the inception of the scheme four years ago.
The only time that more than one crore Ayushman cards — 1.06 crore to be exact — were created in the country was in the month of March 2021 when a special campaign ‘Apke Dwar Ayushman’ was run. By the end of this year, the scheme will also cross the landmark figure of claims settled to the tune of Rs 50,000 crore, a top government functionary told News18. As on date, claims of free medical treatment worth Rs 48, 720 crore have been settled.
Close to a total of 20 crore Ayushman Cards have been issued to beneficiaries so far out of about 50 crore-plus beneficiaries in India of the scheme that entitles giving free medical insurance of Rs 5 lakh per year to each family. “No one is denied free treatment in absence of an Ayushman Card and is issued one when he/she comes for treatment,” a top government functionary told News18.
Boost under Mansukh Mandaviya
The scheme has got an impetus under Mansukh Mandaviya who became the health minister last July. The number of Ayushman Cards issued till last July was only around 11 crore, a figure achieved in about 32 months of the scheme till then. Since then, the figure has risen to almost 20 crore in the next 16 months under Mandaviya, who has put a special focus on issuing Ayushman Cards to maximum beneficiaries in mission mode.
“We aim to issue Ayushman Cards to 25 crore beneficiaries by the end of this financial year,” the top functionary quoted above said. The beneficiary families under the scheme have been identified from the Socio Economic Caste Census (SECC) of 2011 on the basis of select deprivation and occupational criteria across rural and urban areas.
BJP-ruled states lead
Maximum Ayushman Cards have been created in three BJP-ruled states — Madhya Pradesh (3.3 Cr), Uttar Pradesh (2.3 Cr) and Gujarat (1.63 Cr), followed by Chhattisgarh (1.6 Cr) and Karnataka (1.17 Cr). However, it is the opposition-ruled states like Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Rajasthan which have reported the maximum number of hospital admissions under the scheme with 84 lakh, 45 lakh and 39 lakh admissions respectively till the present date.
Targets are not fixed for Ayushman Bharat-PMJAY as the scheme operates on the basis of beneficiary demand for free healthcare services. The total hospital admissions in the country under the scheme have crossed four crore with claims settled to the tune of nearly Rs 49,000 crore.
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