BHUBANESWAR: Strongly criticising Odisha government’s refusal to implement Ayushman Bharat - Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), BJP MPs led by union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday urged Health and Family Welfare Minister Mansukh Mandaviya to issue an advisory to the state for implementation of the Central scheme.
Even as the state has implemented two other components - Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centres (AB-HWCs) and Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (AB-DM), of the scheme launched in 2018, it has launched its own health assurance scheme Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY) instead of PMJAY.
In a memorandum submitted to Mandaviya, the BJP MPs stated since the Centre has recently announced that various state sponsored health insurance and benefit schemes that can run in a parallel manner along with the PMJAY, and there should not be any issue for the state government to implement it.
As per the revised provisions, the Ayushman Bharat card can be used by beneficiaries under PMJAY and the state scheme. If a state wants to provide more than `5 lakh benefit, partial funding for up to Rs 5 lakh will be provided by the Centre as per the existing scheme and if states have additional beneficiaries (other than those identified under the 2011 socio-economic and caste census (SECC), they will also be able to use the same card.
The co-branded cards will allot space to both PMJAY and state specific logos. The Centre will provide full financial support for issuance of the co-branded cards to not just the SECC beneficiaries but state specific non-SECC beneficiaries as well.
Since Odisha is prone to distress migration which forces nearly 33.45 per cent (pc) of families in rural Odisha to migrate to other states in search of work, an estimated population of one crore Odias live outside the state for their livelihood. As estimated the migrant families spend nearly 33 pc of their income for availing healthcare services as they are deprived of PMJAY benefits at their workplaces, the memorandum stated.