States & UTs can run their own health protection schemes in alliance with AB-PMJAY: Govt

All states and Union Territories (UTs) that have implemented Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), termed as the biggest government-sponsored healthcare scheme in the world, can run their own health protection scheme. In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, Minister of State (Health and Family Welfare), Ashwini Kumar Choubey, stated that states and UTs can run their own health schemes along with AB-PMJAY at their own cost.

Under this arrangement, the States/UTs that want to implement health schemes at their own cost can use Health Benefit Packages, empaneled hospital network, common IT platform of PMJAY.

The funding of the health scheme is shared between central and state governments. According to a release, the ratio of central share to state share for most of the states is 60:40. This ratio for the North-Eastern states and the Himalayan states is 90:10. In the case of UTs without legislatures, the contribution by the central government is 100 per cent of the premium.

Presently, Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana has been implemented in around 32 states and UTs across the country. The healthcare scheme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2018.

The release said that 1.57 crore hospitalisations at the cost of Rs 19,506 crores have been authorized under the health scheme of the Central government. “These include utilization data corresponding to the expanded beneficiary base by some States/UTs,” it said.

For the uninitiated, the number of beneficiaries of this scheme crossed the 1-crore mark in May last year. Noting the positive impact of the initiative on several lives, PM Modi had said that the scheme allows beneficiaries to get top quality medical care in any part of the country. This is of great help for people who are working away from home or living at a place where they are not registered.