Among the 106 districts chosen for the Ayushman Bharat NHPM Pilot, all of West Bengal is covered; there is also one district of Congress-ruled Mizoram
Pilots of Ayushman Bharat – National Health Protection Scheme, that the prime minister referred to as the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, will happen in 106 districts in 14 states of the country. Of the 14, West Bengal where all 23 districts are part of the pilot, is the only big opposition ruled state. Only one district of Congress-ruled Mizoram bucks that trend.
The pilots will be carried out in 27 districts of Chattisgarh, 23 in West Bengal, 22 in Haryana, 16 in Arunachal Pradesh, 6 in Madhya Pradesh, two each in Manipur, Uttarakhand and Daman & Diu and one each in Chandigarh, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Himachal Pradesh and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. Apart from West Bengal, all states of Haryana and Assembly poll bound Chhattisgarh too have been covered.
West Bengal, according to highly placed sources in the National Health Agency is in a very advanced state of preparedness in terms of the information technology platform and other logistics. In 2015-16, West Bengal Govt. spent Rs 3910 crores on urban health services and Rs 2429 crores on rural health services, which is the highest among all states in India when it comes to expenditure on public health. This is according to data from the National Health Accounts Cell, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
NHA is the implementing authority of the Rs 5 lakh health insurance/assurance programme.
West Bengal which signed an MoU with NHA last month to join the NHPM, has its own ongoing health scheme called Swasthya Saathi that covers 40 lakh people in the state. As per the MoU, NHPM will be in West Bengal as an alliance with Swasthya Saathi. The annual health cover under the state scheme is also of Rs 5 lakh
West Bengal which signed an MoU with NHA last month to join the NHPM, has its own ongoing health scheme called Swasthya Saathi that covers 40 lakh people in the state. As per the MoU, NHPM will be in West Bengal as an alliance with Swasthya Saathi. The annual health cover under the state scheme is also of Rs 5 lakh. The state, under the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) also gives a cover of Rs 30,000 to about 63 lakh people. Under NHPM another estimated one crore people in the state will be covered. According to NITI Ayog data, in 2011-12, 1.85 crore people in West Bengal were below poverty line. They constitute 20% of the population.
According to NHA sources while the PM has announced that pilots will happen for the next 4-6 weeks ahead of the nationwide rollout of the programme on September 25, the actual dates of the pilots are yet to be worked out with the states.
