Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY)

Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY)

News: Recently, The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has recently unveiled certain statistics pertaining to the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY).

Key findings:
• Women constitute around 49% of the total Ayushman cards created. Approximately 48% of total authorized hospital admissions are accounted for by women.
• The scheme extends coverage to 55 crore individuals belonging to 12 crore families. Many states and union territories implementing AB PM-JAY have independently expanded the beneficiary base, incurring additional costs.
• As of December 2023, a total of approximately 28.45 Crore Ayushman Cards have been generated. Notably, around 9.38 crore Ayushman Cards were created in the year 2023 alone.
• A significant total of 6.11 crore hospital admissions, amounting to Rs 78,188 crores, have been authorized.

About AB-PMJAY
• It is the flagship scheme of the Union government as a part of the Indian government’s National Health Policy.
• AB-PMJAY provides a health cover of up to Rs. 5 lakh a family a year, for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization, to India’s bottom 40% poor and vulnerable population.
• The programme was launched in September, 2018.
• AB-PMJAY is under the aegis of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
• E-cards are provided to the eligible beneficiaries based on the deprivation and occupational criteria of Socio-Economic Caste Census 2011 (SECC 2011).
• There is no restriction on family size, age or gender.
• All previous medical conditions are covered under the scheme.
• It covers 3 days of hospitalisation and 15 days of post hospitalisation, including diagnostic care and expenses on medicines.
• The scheme has certain pre-conditions by which it picks who can avail of the health cover benefit. While in the rural areas the list is mostly categorized on lack of housing, meagre income and other deprivations, the urban list of PMJAY beneficiaries is drawn up on the basis of occupation.