Ayushman Bharat, Uber ink pact for drivers, delivery partners

NEW DELHI: Uber, the world’s largest on-demand ride-sharing company, and Ayushman Bharat, the world’s largest government healthcare scheme, announced a partnership on Friday to facilitate free healthcare for tens of thousands of drivers and delivery partners, who earn a livelihood by using the Uber platform.

As per the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with National Health Authority (NHA), Uber, under its Uber CARE initiative for drivers and delivery partners, will facilitate the setting up of Common Service Centres (CSCs) at Partners Seva Kendras across India.

CSC’s Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) at these centers will help verify eligibility and  issue e-cards to driver and delivery partners for the Ayushman Bharat scheme, which provides Rs 5,00,000 of healthcare benefits for free secondary and tertiary treatment to each eligible family annually in government and empanelled private hospitals.

Dr Indu Bhushan, CEO, Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, and National Health Authority (NHA), said, “Reaching out to the last mile beneficiary lies at the core of the goal of Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY of providing cashless quality inpatient care for serious illnesses with a view to protecting more than 10 crore economically vulnerable families or 50 crore people from catastrophic healthcare expenditure that impoverishes over 6 crore people every year.”

Pradeep Parameswaran, President, Uber, India and South Asia, said, “Driver partners are at the heart of what we do and during our engagements with them, they have repeatedly mentioned the need for a stronger safety net, especially good healthcare. Our partnership with Ayushman Bharat, the largest government healthcare scheme in the world, caters to such a requirement.’’