Welfare schemes’ data to enrich Ayushman Bharat
PremiumThe government also plans to launch Aapke Dwar Ayushman campaign 2.0 across the country.
In a first, the Union government plans to leverage the database of beneficiaries of its marquee schemes such as Ujjwala Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and National Food Security Act to further expand the beneficiary database under Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY), the world’s largest health assurance scheme.
A meeting held on Wednesday by Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan directed states to prepare a comprehensive roadmap for identifying more eligible beneficiaries under the scheme and provide them with an Ayushman card free-of-cost.
The government also plans to shortly launch Aapke Dwar Ayushman campaign 2.0 across the country after 40 million cards were issued last year through the campaign.
In the past, many states and districts have made efforts to amplify the identification and generation of Ayushman cards; however, all those initiatives were localized and could not be sustained for long and one reason could be pandemic, said the official.
“Hence, NHA (National Health Authority) has now conceptualized Aapke Dwar Ayushman Campaign 2.0 with an aim to generate 300 million Ayushman cards by the end of this year. Now, the focus is on four major points—(i) beneficiary database enrichment, (ii) revamping of Beneficiary Identification System (BIS) by strengthening KYC & search and eliminating paper, (iii) capacity building of agencies to generate cards (iv) policy support to states as NHA will provide full financial support to state government in creating co-branded Ayushman cards," an official said requesting anonymity.
A health ministry spokesperson did not respond to queries sent on Thursday.
The Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY scheme has gained traction with over 180 million eligible beneficiaries who have been registered and provided with free of cost Ayushman cards while over 33.92 million beneficiaries have received free treatment so far. “The existing SECC (Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) 2011) database is old due to which we are unable to trace all eligible beneficiaries. So, we are now collaborating with other Central government welfare schemes such as Ujjwala Schemes, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and NFSA etc to identify and verify eligible beneficiaries under PM-JAY," said the official.
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