Maharashtra becomes first state in India to introduce universal healthcare policy
Maharashtra becomes the first state in India to offer a universal healthcare policy, with the Centre?s Ayushman Bharat and the state?s Mahatma Jyotirao Phule Jan Arogya Yojana schemes co-branded. The revamped scheme will provide INR5 lakh ($6,900) cover for 12 crore citizens, regardless of their ration card status, and will cover 1,900 ailments, up from 996. Co-branded cards will be issued to 1 crore citizens by August, with the cost of making the 12 crore cards estimated at INR179 crore, to be funded by the Centre. Maharashtra?s existing MJPJAY scheme has 2.22 crore beneficiaries.
Mumbai: Maharashtra becomes the first state in the country to offer universal healthcare policy after Union health minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya announced that the Centre’s Ayushman Bharat the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) and state’s Mahatma Jyotirao Phule Jan Arogya Yojana (MJPJAY) will be co-branded in the state.
This decision was taken by Dr Mandaviya with Devendra Fadnavis, deputy chief minister, and state health officials in a joint meeting on Friday. Fadnavis said under the revamped health scheme, ₹ 5 lakh cover will be provided to 12 crore citizens in the state.
The AB-PMJAY flagship insurance scheme implemented by the National Health Authority (NHA) provides health cover of ₹ 5 Lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation and has been implemented in 33 states.
“Under the present MJPJAY scheme, there are close to 2.22 crore beneficiaries in the state. They are below-poverty-line citizens of Maharashtra who had yellow or orange ration cards. The improvised scheme shall cover citizens irrespective of what ration cards they hold,” said Vinod Bondre, acting CEO of MJPJAY. The improvised scheme will cover 1900 ailments against the existing 996.
Fadnavis said co-branded cards will be issued to 1 crore citizens by August and 10 crore citizens in the next six months. The cost of making these 12 crore co-branded cards is estimated to be around ₹ 179 crore, which will be funded by the Centre under the NHA.
Fadnavis said they plan to increase the number of empanelled hospitals for the scheme. He also added that they plan to strengthen the rural healthcare infrastructure for which the Centre has sanctioned them ₹ 3000 crore funds.
“We had submitted ₹ 6,000 crore proposal to the Centre out of which ₹ 3,000 crore has been sanctioned to us,” said Fadnavis
Mandaviya also announced the opening of a 50-bed critical care unit in each district in the state which will be equipped with oxygen and ventilator and other things required for critical care management of patients. The number of Jan Aushadhi Kendras providing generic medicines at affordable rate will also be increased, he said.
“At present, we have 600 such units. We plan to increase it to 1,000. The rise in non-communicable diseases and the long-term expenditure it involves for treatment, we felt that it was important to increase the number of Jan Aushadhi Kendras,” said Mandaviya.
Dr Abhay Shukla, National Co-Convenor, Jan Sawasthya Abhiyan said having a universal health insurance card is not equal to healthcare.