‘PM-JAY ensures affordable healthcare to the poor’

New Delhi: The Ayushman Bharat–Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) is the flagship scheme of Government of India that provides a cover of up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year, for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization to over 10.74 crore poor and vulnerable families (or more than 50 crore beneficiaries).

Currently being implemented in 33 States and UTs, PM-JAY provides cashless and paperless access to services for beneficiaries at the point of service. Over 23,600 public and private hospitals have been empanelled across the country to provide inpatient services to the beneficiaries.

Dr Vipul Aggarwal, Deputy CEO, National Health Authority (NHA), said: “As on date nearly 1.37 crore people have availed free treatment worth around Rs 16,931 crore at over 23,600 empanelled hospitals across the country under PM-JAY. For Covid-19 alone, we have provided treatment to over 2.5 lakh people and close to 5 lakh people have availed the benefits of free testing. Via PM-JAY helpline (14555) and Covid helpline (1075), we have attended to over 27.5 Lakh calls in the last five-six months. We have also actively reached out to high-risk Covid-19 potential beneficiaries to caution them and provide an advisory in case of symptoms. Furthermore, the NHA is actively coordinating with states to ensure that all eligible migrant workers get benefits of PM-JAY. With the scheme’s portability feature, they can avail treatment in any empanelled hospital irrespective of their state of origin. We also provided a Digi locker facility for those who were travelling from one state to another so that they would not have to avail their e-card physically.”

Dr Vipul Aggarwal also added: “We are constantly organising awareness drives across the country to enlighten individuals on the free treatment they can avail. To ensure that the information about the scheme as well as Covid-19 testing and treatment under AB PM-JAY is available at the fingertips, we have launched ‘Ask Ayushman’ chatbot. Besides, #14555 is the easiest way to get information related to the scheme and to know about one’s entitlement.”