Ayushman Bharat or the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY), branded as ‘Modicare’, will not quite live up to its name in terms of having a national footprint. Odisha, Telangana and Delhi have already opted out of the health insurance scheme launched in 2018. West Bengal may become the latest to join the naysayers. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s objection is specifically on the branding. 

Designed to intervene in primary, secondary and tertiary care, PMJAY gives Rs 5 lakh cover per family per year to the poor. Others which declined to join the scheme have done so on the ground that they already have better schemes running in their states. Mamata, however, has spotted a propagandist purpose behind how letters from the prime minister sent to individual recipients through the Indian postal system carry his photograph and a lotus resembling the BJP election symbol. 

Though the ratio of funding is 60:40, she feels the state government is getting no credit for implementing it. Even if the points are somewhat valid, the reaction is a political one. Trinamool Congress activists have warned footsoldiers of the postal service against delivering the PM’s promotional letters in election season. And West Bengal has threatened to subsume PMJAY under its very own Swasthya Sathi basic healthcare cover. However, enrolment under PMJAY in West Bengal has crossed one crore, while the state scheme has only 40 lakh beneficiaries. The pullout is a setback for the central scheme, but it also does the people of the state no good. Even beyond, in fact, West Bengal’s medical care infrastructure also caters to people from the Northeast and Bihar. 

Delhi too is smarting because the Centre has chosen to bypass the state health agency to directly empanel the hospitals. It’s unfortunate that a much-needed public healthcare scheme has run into such tussles. All sides need to desist from egocentric responses and self-projection and seek maximum convergence.