NDMC okays implementation of Centre’s Ayushman Bharat scheme

The meeting was chaired by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who attended the NDMC council meeting after a long time.

Under this scheme, the residents of New Delhi area and Lutyens Delhi will get an annual health insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh per family for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had rolled out the AB-PMJAY scheme in February 2018.

According to NDMC member Kuljeet Chahal, the scheme is yet to be introduced by the Delhi government. “The Aam Aadmi Party government has not implemented the scheme yet due to political reasons but NDMC has passed the scheme today in the council meeting where Delhi CM was also present. Now, under this scheme the beneficiaries can avail the cashless hospitalisation and further treatment,” Chahal said.

The beneficiaries will be provided a golden card which they can use at any empanelled private and public hospital to avail the health benefits, Chahal added.

Officials said that the scheme is already implemented in NDMC government hospitals like Charak Palika in 2020 and is now being extended to other hospitals. At Charak Palika, the public can avail free treatment at 7 specialities like ENT, general surgery, ophthalmology, orthopaedics, general medicine, paediatrics, chest and respiratory medicine.

“All patients admitted in Charak Palika Hospital are mandatorily verified in the beneficiary identification system (BIS) and then given free treatment. In case of Delhi residents, we are not able to generate AB-PMJAY scheme since the Aadhaar details are not accepted in the system. Therefore, benefits under the scheme have not been passed on to Delhi residents till today,” read a circular shared by Chahal.

Around 53 patients have availed cashless treatment under PMJAY scheme from 2020 till date.

Further, during the meeting, BJP-appointed NDMC members also raised the problems of water scarcity being faced by the residents of New Delhi area before Kejriwal. Chahal said 125 MLD water was earlier released in the New Delhi area but now only 60 MLD water is being released.

“These are false allegations. There is a general water shortage in Delhi because Haryana is not releasing full allocation of water. However, the New Delhi constituency is not being deprived of its share. We urge BJP to ask its Haryana government to release full share of Delhi’s water and not to play politics on water,” the Delhi government had said earlier on Tuesday.

Satish Upadhyay, vice-chairman of NDMC, suggested that a survey be conducted in Udyan Marg around Venkateswara Swamy–Tirupati Balaji Temple and meat shops alongside the wall connecting to the temple be relocated.

“I visited the temple and found that there are many shopkeepers who are selling and serving non-vegetarian food along the wall connecting the temple which is not good. Such issues would not be tolerated, I also warned the heads of departments to take immediate action on it,” he said.

Further, the council approved several other proposals related to development of the New Delhi area and NDMC workers.