Ayushman Bharat Scheme Provides Free Treatment Worth Rs 61,501 Crore to 5 Crore People
The Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (ABPM-JAY) has achieved a significant milestone of providing free treatment worth Rs 61,501 crore to 5 crore people. The flagship scheme, implemented by the National Health Authority (NHA), provides a health cover of Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation to 12 crore beneficiary families.
Sub-Headings:
– ABPM-JAY Achieves Milestone of 5 Crore Hospital Admissions
– Scheme Helps Reduce Out-of-Pocket Expenditure for Medical Treatments
– Gender Equity in Access to Quality Healthcare
Consistent efforts have helped achieve several milestones for PM-JAY in the current year. From issuing 9.28 crore Ayushman cards to scheme beneficiaries to achieving 100% allocated fund utilisation and authorisation of 1.65 crore hospital admissions, the year 2022-23 has been full of accomplishments for the scheme, according to NHA.
The ABPM-JAY is being implemented in 33 states and Union Territories (UTs) except for Delhi, Odisha and West Bengal. Till date, 23.39 crore beneficiaries have been verified and issued Ayushman cards for availing free treatment under the scheme. The PM-JAY empanelled hospital network consists of 28,351 hospitals (including 12,824 private hospitals) across the country.
During the year 2022-23, approximately 56% of the total admissions (by amount) have been authorised in private hospitals, while 44% of the admissions have been authorised in public hospitals. The AB PM-JAY beneficiaries can avail treatment corresponding to a total of 1,949 procedures under 27 different specialties.
The top tertiary care specialities under which treatments have been availed by beneficiaries till date are medical oncology (cancer treatment), emergency care, orthopaedic and urology (kidney-related ailments). Further, under the scheme, a conscious effort has been made to ensure gender equity in access to quality healthcare.
As a result of the conducive policies, approximately 49% of Ayushman card recipients are women and over 48% of total authorised hospital admissions under AB PM-JAY scheme have been availed by women. Also, over 141 medical procedures under PM-JAY are exclusively earmarked for women.
In conclusion, the ABPM-JAY scheme has been successful in providing free treatment to millions of people in need. The government’s efforts to ensure gender equity in access to quality healthcare are commendable and will go a long way in improving the health and well-being of women in the country.
