DELHI: The Delhi government inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Centre on Saturday to implement the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) in the city.
With this, Delhi has become the 35th state/Union Territory to implement the health insurance scheme. West Bengal is now the only state which has not implemented the scheme.
The MoU was signed between the Delhi government and the National Health Authority in the presence of Union Health Minister J P Nadda, and Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, among others.
“All senior citizens aged 70 years and above, irrespective of their socio-economic status, will be covered under Ayushman Vay Vandana Yojana which provides Rs 5 lakh free health cover irrespective of their socio-economic status. The scheme will cover their all pre-existing illnesses. It is estimated that more than 6 lakh senior citizens in Delhi belonging to 4.5 lakh families will be benefited,” Nadda said, adding the state will run the PMJAY in trust model.
Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said that the state government will cover 2,35,000 families in the first phase, with card distribution set to start from April 10.
“Citizens in Delhi will now be able to reap benefits from AB PM-JAY which provides free health cover of Rs 5 Lakh to each beneficiary family per year. In addition, the Delhi government would be giving an additional top-up of Rs 5 lakh over and above the cover provided by the Central Government. Card distribution for the scheme will be initiated from 10th April onwards. We will also be adding 400 Ayushman Arogya Mandirs in Delhi,” she added.
The Ayushman Bharat scheme provides free and cashless treatment for 1,961 medical procedures across 27 specialities, covering the costs of medicines, diagnostic services, hospitalisation, ICU care, surgeries and more.
The Delhi government has set a Rs 2,144 crore fund for implementation for PMJAY in its state budget.
The BJP, which came to power in Delhi in February after a gap of more than 26 years, approved the implementation of the scheme at its first cabinet meeting, right after Gupta and six of her ministers took the oath of office on February 20.