Health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan presents the Ayushman Bharat report card as its ambitious tertiary care arm completes one year
“The Ayushman Bharat journey which began on 14th April 2018 with the inaugural of a HWC at Jangla, a remote place in Chattisgarh, culminated in the launch of the second pillar of Ayushman Bharat- the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) on 23 Sept, 2018 in Ranchi, Jharkhand. I am happy to announce that in a short period of time, under the Ayushman Bharat scheme, more than 21,000 Health & Wellness Centres have become operational and about 47 lakh people have availed of treatments under its Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) pillar”.
These were the opening lines of health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, as he addressed the media announcing the launch of the Ayushman Bharat Pakhwara, a fortnight of enhancing awareness about the Yojana, the salient features of its twin pillars, and the benefits that can be availed of.
He added: “This year, as we complete one year of launch of AB-PMJAY, we are celebrating Ayushman Bharat Pakhwara (15th-30th September), a fortnight-long national campaign to enhance awareness around the preventive, promotive and curative aspects of health care, nutrition, yoga and healthy lifestyle through Ayushman Bharat and other related initiatives such as Poshan Abhiyaan and Swachhta Abhiyaan.”
More than 1.5 Crore people have been screened for hypertension and more than 70 lakhs people put on treatment; around 1.3 crore people have been screened for Diabetes and more than 31 lakhs people are on treatment
Ayushman Bharat, he said, is the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to provide universal health care to the poor, needy and vulnerable sections of the country, who most need it. A path-breaking approach and a game-changer, it is probably the biggest public healthcare initiative in the world, he stated. While the 1.5 lakh Health & Wellness Centres (to be operationalised by Dec 2022) provide comprehensive primary care (CPHC) including preventive and promotive healthcare close to the communities, PMJAY covers 50 crore poor and vulnerable people in the country. It provides a health assurance cover of Rs. 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care for serious and catastrophic illnesses, he elaborated. PM-JAY provides cashless and paperless access to services for the beneficiary at the point of service.
Through more than 21,000 AB-HWCs, the service area population (around 5 crore population empanelled to these centres) are getting out patient service besides the assured maternal and child healthcare services and management of common ailments through newly posted, trained and appropriately oriented Community Health Officers (CHOs). The operational AB-HWCs have a footfall of 1,70,63,522 patients till date.
More than 1.5 Crore people have been screened for hypertension and more than 70 lakhs people put on treatment; around 1.3 crore people have been screened for Diabetes and more than 31 lakhs people are on treatment. More than 76 lakhs were screened for oral cavity cancer and out of these, 10,218 people are on treatment. While more than 53 lakhs women is screened for breast cancer and around 9700 women are on treatment, more than 37 lakhs women is screened for cervical cancer and around 10000 women are on treatment. In addition, more than 1.6 Crores have been provided medicines and around 49 lakhs population are provided diagnostic services.
Since the launch of PMJAY on 23rd Sept last year more than 47 lakh hospital treatments worth over Rs 7,500 crore have been carried out. Of the total amount utilised, 55% has been on tertiary procedures. In addition, more than 10 crore beneficiary cards have been issued. As on date, 32 States and Union Territories are implementing the PMJAY. Dr Harsh Vardhan further stated that under AB-PMJAY, 18,073 hospitals and health care providers have been empanelled across the country. Of this, 53% of the hospitals empanelled are private, especially multi-speciality, and 62% of the treatments have been in these private hospitals. A unique feature of PMJAY is its portability, which has helped the eligible poor and migrant workers to seek treatment outside their states. So far, there have been more than 40,000 portability cases, he informed.
Dr. Harsh Vardhan added: “Through its vision and design, we have been able to bring on board nearly all States and Union Territories and get whole-hearted political and administrative support for it. This is a demonstration of our commitment to the highest ideals of cooperative federalism”.
National Health Authority is organizing a 2-day national workshop, Arogya Manthan, on September 30th and October 1st, 2019. In the Arogya Manthan, all important stakeholders of PM-JAY will meet and discuss through day-long sessions and working groups to come up with implementable solutions to the challenges faced in the past year in the implementation of the scheme and to forge new understanding and pathways towards improving implementation.
