3.2 cr. used facilities under Ayushman scheme: Centre

May 14, 2022

In News:

Recently, the Union Health Ministry shared information that more than 18 crore health cards have been issued under the Ayushman Bharat - Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) scheme so far and over 3.2 crore people have availed the hospital facilities.
Earlier, the National Health Authority (NHA), under its flagship scheme Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), announced the successful integration of additional 13 digital health solutions in the ABDM Sandbox environment in the last three months.

What’s in today’s article:

About Ayushman Bharat Scheme:

Ayushman Bharat, a flagship scheme of Government of India, was launched in 2018 as recommended by the National Health Policy (2017), to achieve the vision of Universal Health Coverage.
This initiative has been designed to meet Sustainable Development Goal number 3 and its underlining commitment, which is to "leave no one behind."
It is an entitlement-based scheme that targets the beneficiaries as identified by latest Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) data.

The funding is shared – 60:40 for all states and UTs with their own legislature, 90:10 in Northeast states and Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal and Uttarakhand and 100% Central funding for UTs without legislature.

Ayushman Bharat adopts a continuum of care approach, comprising of two inter-related components, which are:

Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs):

In February 2018, the Government of India announced the creation of 1,50,000 Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs) by transforming the existing Sub Centres and Primary Health Centres(PHCs).
These centres are to deliver Comprehensive Primary Health Care (CPHC) bringing healthcare closer to the homes of people.
They cover both, maternal and child health services and non-communicable diseases, including free essential drugs and diagnostic services.

Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY):

Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY is the largest health assurance scheme in the world.
It aims to provide a health cover of Rs. 5 lakhs per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization to over 10.74 crores poor and vulnerable families.
With approximately 50 crore beneficiaries, it covers the bottom 40% of the Indian population.
PM-JAY is fully funded by the Government and cost of implementation is shared between the Central and State Governments.
Implementing Agency: National Health Authority (NHA) has been set up to implement PM-JAY.

NHA is an attached office of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare with full functional autonomy.

To implement the scheme at the State level, State Health Agencies (SHAs) in the form of a society/trust have been set up by respective States.
So far, 23,000 hospitals have been empanelled under the scheme, 40 per cent of which are from the private sector.

About Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission:

The pilot project of the National Digital Health Mission was announced by the Prime Minister during his Independence Day speech from the Red Fort on August 15, 2020.
The nationwide rollout of the project coincided with National Health Authority (NHA) celebrating the third anniversary of Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) in September, 2021.
Major components of Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission include:

A Health ID for every citizen that will also work as their health account, to which personal health records can be linked and viewed with the help of a mobile application named Ayushman Bharat health account (ABHA).
A Healthcare Professionals Registry (HPR) and Healthcare Facilities Registries (HFR) that will act as a repository of all healthcare providers across both modern and traditional systems of medicine.
The Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission Sandbox, created as a part of the mission, will act as a framework for technology and product testing that will help organisations, including private players, to be a part of the National Digital Health Ecosystem to become a health information provider.

Significance of the Scheme:

The mission aims to develop the backbone necessary to support the integrated digital health infrastructure of the country.
This mission will also ensure ease of doing business for doctors & hospitals and healthcare service providers.
The mission will create interoperability within the digital health ecosystem, on the line of role played by the Unified Payments Interface in revolutionising payments.

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