Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday launched one of the world’s largest health insurance scheme— Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Abhiyaan, also known as Ayushman Bharat or the National Health Protection Mission (AB-NHPM), set to cover some 500 million poor people.
Modi launched Ayushman Bharat Prabhat Tara ground in Ranchi, capital of the Jharkhand. Speaking on the occasion he said, this is the world’s largest health scheme which will serve a population that equals 27-28 European countries. The beneficiaries are almost equal to the population of Canada, Mexico and US put together.
“Today is a historic day for India! We are launching the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY), which is a big step towards providing good quality and accessible healthcare to the poor of India. Over 10 crore families will benefit from this scheme”, he added.
The government-sponsored health insurance scheme will provide free coverage of up to Rs 5 lakh a family a year in any government or even empanelled private hospitals all over India. Meant to help the poor and the economically deprived, the scheme will be available for 10.74 crore beneficiary families and about 50 crore Indian citizens.
Expenditures will be shared by the central and state governments at a 60 to 40 ratio in most states and funding will be increased gradually according to the demand.
The Prime Minister also launched a toll free number 14555 for people to get more information about the scheme.
Modi also said 2,500 modern hospitals would come up in tier-II and tier-III cities and would generate employment opportunities.
A total of 13,000 hospitals have become a part of the Ayushman Bharat scheme. Our government has taken a holistic approach to lay stress on affordable and preventive healthcare, he said.
