NEW DELHI: Over 5.6 crore hospital admission worth over Rs. 69,000 crore has been made under the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), the government's ambitious flagship health insurance scheme, said Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Tuesday.
Speaking at the valedictory session of Arogya Manthan 2023, which celebrated the completion of five years of Ayushman Bharat PMJAY and two years of Ayushman Bharat Digital Health Mission (ABDM), Mandaviya said that many of these hospital admissions had been availed for life-threatening diseases, whose total cost of treatment would have been 1.5-2 times higher if the beneficiaries would have availed the same treatment on their own outside the ambit of the scheme.
“When PM-JAY was launched, health was not on the top of the agenda for many. But today, we have come a long way in our journey, crossing the milestone of over 5.6 crore hospital admissions worth over Rs. 69,000 crore. We can see the transformational value of AB PM-JAY,” he said.
Mandaviya emphasized the significance of the Ayushman Bharat-PM-JAY initiative, which has been touted as the world's most extensive government-funded healthcare program, targeting more than 50 crore beneficiaries, in putting women at the front and center of the national conversation on health. Under the scheme, health cover of Rs. 5 lakh per family per year is given, which is entirely cashless and paperless.
“Females account for approximately 49% of Ayushman card recipients, verified under the PM-JAY IT platform. Women have availed more than 48% of authorized hospital admissions while over 141 medical procedures under PM-JAY are exclusively earmarked for women,” he said.
At the occasion, he also felicitated five-year-old Karishma, the first beneficiary of the scheme in the country and who is as old as the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana.
He also awarded top-performing states and Union Territories in various categories. The award for highest Ayushman Card creation was given to Assam, Nagaland, and Jammu and Kashmir.
Karnataka and Tripura were awarded for the highest percentage of utilisation in public hospitals of the scheme.
For ABDM, Andhra Pradesh was awarded as the top state in linking health records with ABHA, while Uttar Pradesh emerged as the leading state in the generation of ABHA scan and share tokens.
He also said that more than 45 crore Ayushman Bharat Health Accounts (ABHA) have been generated in the last two years.
“These ABHA accounts have been linked to over 30 crore health records. The scheme attempts to improve healthcare delivery by harnessing digital technologies,” he said.
Mandaviya also highlighted the launch of two new initiatives, Aapke Dwar Ayushman (ADA 3.0) launched by NHA and the Ayushman Bhav campaign. President Droupadi Murmu launched the Ayushman Bhav initiative on September 13.
The two initiatives are designed to give a further push to increasing health coverage in the country, he added.