Punjab Newsline, Chandigarh, February 22 -
Haryana's Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Anil Vij, said that Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana is a flagship scheme of the Government of India, which was launched on September 23, 2018, to comprehensively address health services at the secondary and tertiary levels. AB-PM-JAY is the world’s largest health insurance/ assurance scheme fully financed by the Government which aims at providing health cover of Rs. 5 lakhs per family per year to entitled beneficiary family for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization.
A total of 1164 hospitals (511 public and 653 private) in Haryana are empanelled under this scheme, offering approximately 2,200 treatment packages including surgeries, medical and daycare treatments, medication costs, and diagnostics. It's noteworthy that there is no restriction based on family size or age of family members, as disadvantaged families identified in the Socio-Economic Caste Census 2011 were declared eligible beneficiaries under AB-PMJAY by the Government of India, thus 28,89,287 individuals from 9,25,028 such families in Haryana were enrolled as beneficiaries under the scheme. The cost-sharing between the Government of India and the Haryana government for beneficiaries under AB-PMJAY is in the ratio of 60:40.
He mentioned that acknowledging the vast capacity of AB-PMJAY to enhance healthcare access, the Haryana government has extended coverage of Ayushman Bharat to all Antyodaya families. Under the Chirayu (Comprehensive Health Insurance for Antyodaya Units) scheme initiated on November 21, 2022, all families with verified annual incomes up to Rs. 1.80 lakh are eligible for AB-PMJAY benefits. The entire expense of Antyodaya families under Chirayu is borne by the Haryana government. Furthermore, since August 14, 2023, the coverage of Chirayu scheme has been extended to families with annual incomes between Rs 1.80 lakh and Rs. 3 lakh, providing Rs. 1500 contribution per family per year. So far, 51,198 families have deposited their contribution under this scheme, and 2,969 beneficiaries have availed treatment worth Rs. 3.85 crore.
He informed that the total number of beneficiaries (eligible and enrolled) is as follows: For SECC-2011 + Chirayu (up to ₹1.80 lakh income), the total eligible beneficiaries' count is 1,69,04,563, out of which 1,10,16,063 beneficiaries have been identified, and 57,35,312 individuals covered under Chirayu in November 2023 have been added to the beneficiaries. Similarly, for Chirayu Extension (income between Rs. 1.80 to Rs. 3.00 lakh), the total eligible beneficiaries' count is 1,59,899, out of which 95,075 have been identified. Additionally, there are 20,316 eligible beneficiaries under ASHA workers, out of which 15,562 have been identified (already eligible under Chirayu and Chirayu Extension), and the remaining 4,754 ASHA workers are yet to be covered and under process. For HKRN employees, the total eligible beneficiaries' count is 30,715, out of which 6,664 have been identified (already eligible under Chirayu and Chirayu Extension), and the remaining 24,051 HKRN are yet to be covered. Remaining are under process.
He informed that Out of total 1,11,11,138 Ayushman cards issued, a total of 92,039 suspicious cards were identified and disabled immediately when SECC-2011 data was in place. An appropriate legal action was taken against the errant entities. A total of 7 FIR’s and 1 police complaint were lodged against the PMAMs/CSCs for issuing suspicious cards in district Gurugram, Palwal, Mahendergarh, Karnal, Yamuna Nagar and Panchkula. The data of eligible beneficiaries of Haryana is pre-seeded with PPP ID and Aadhar, requiring beneficiaries to only undertake e-KYC for generation of card. No document is 7 required to be uploaded on the portal for card generation after launch of CHIRAYU since November 2022. AyushmanCHIRAYU Card can be generated through self- registration mode by the beneficiary himself/ herself on https://beneficiary.nha.gov.in/ and also via “Ayushman App” available on Google Play Store. Ayushman-CHIRAYU card can also be applied through registered CSC VLEs, Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Mitras (PMAMs) in empanelled hospitals and ASHA workers.