Odisha hospitals to get tech upgrades for PMJAY rollout

Both the schemes will be rolled out as a unitary scheme from February to provide cashless health coverage to around 86 per cent of the population of the state.
Ahead of the rollout, the government has begun infrastructure upgrades at the hospitals.
Ahead of the rollout, the government has begun infrastructure upgrades at the hospitals.
Updated on
2 min read

BHUBANESWAR: Days after the agreement with the National Health Authority (NHA), the Odisha government is all set to integrate the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) with its flagship Gopabandhu Jan Arogya Yojana (GJAY).

Sources said, both the schemes will be rolled out as a unitary scheme from February to provide cashless health coverage to around 86 per cent of the population of the state.

Ahead of the rollout, the government has begun infrastructure upgrades at the hospitals. In a first step, the district headquarters hospitals (DHHs) across the state will be installed with essential hardware, software, fingerprint and iris scanners to enable seamless implementation of the scheme.

Sources said certain software changes are being made to run both the schemes on a unified platform and ensure that the beneficiaries also get their OPD expenses covered like before. The state scheme Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (now renamed as GJAY) had been covering the OPD expenses of patients unlike AB-PMJAY along with IPD bills since its inception in 2018. AB-PMJAY comes into effect after a beneficiary is admitted.

Health officials said all 32 district headquarters hospitals, including Rourkela Government Hospital (RGH) and Capital Hospital, Bhubaneswar, will be equipped with advanced technology by the end of January to facilitate the identification and verification of beneficiaries. The state government has planned to procure 32 laptops, 68 high speed scanners, 386 UIDAI-approved single fingerprint scanners and 386 UIDAI-approved single iris scanners for 386 IPD wards in the 32 hospitals.

“The state government is committed to ensuring no citizen is deprived of quality healthcare. This integration will streamline access to healthcare services and expand coverage under the Ayushman Bharat-PMJAY framework,” a senior health official said.

Healthcare institutions and officials are working round-the-clock to meet the deadlines for the infrastructure upgrades. Training sessions for hospital staff are also being organised to ensure the smooth functioning of the system from day one. Empanelled private hospitals have also been informed accordingly.

Under the scheme, eligible beneficiaries will be entitled to cashless treatment up to Rs 5 lakh per annum per family with additional Rs 5 lakh for women beneficiaries at around 29,000 empanelled hospitals for secondary and tertiary healthcare needs.

On January 13, Odisha became the 34th state to sign MoU with NHA for implementation of AB-PMJAY. The MoU was signed in the presence of Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and Union Health Minister JP Nadda.

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