NEW DELHI: The Centre’s flagship health insurance scheme for 50 crore Indians will be launched officially on September 23 in about 10,000 government and private hospitals.
Officials in the National Health Agency, a body constituted by the Union government to implement the scheme, said the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana’s official launch was been brought forward due to unavailability of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 25.
“He will launch the scheme in Ranchi on September 23 after which it will be kick-started in most other states,” NHA Chief Executive Officer Indu Bhushan told TNIE.
In his I-Day speech, Modi had announced the scheme would be rolled out on the birth anniversary of BJP ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyay (Sept. 25). The scheme has already been soft-launched in a few states.
Of the 30 states and Union Territories that are onboard, Goa, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan and Puducherry will see the scheme’s launch in later stages.
So far, Telangana, Odisha and Delhi have not evinced interest in the yojana, which envisages a funding share of 60:40 basis between the Centre and the states.
“Rajasthan which has a successful health scheme, Bhamashah, in place will implement the scheme only after the assembly elections, but other four states will join the programme in a few months,” Bhushan said.
He added about 50 per cent of the hospitals where the cashless hospitalisation would begin next week, were in the private sector.
“We have already listed out about 8,000 hospitals, and 2,000-3,000 more will join in two-three days.” Bhushan’s deputy Dinesh Arora said last-minute preparation is in full swing for a successful launch of the scheme.
Big private players evince interest
Some corporate hospitals such as Medanta have also got empanelled for the scheme already, and many others have expressed a willingness to join it.