Show cause notice issued to PMC & PCMC for huge pendency in issuing Ayushman cards
The Maharashtra government revamped the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojana (MJPJAY) increasing health cover up to ₹5 lakh
The Pune district collector on Friday issued show cause notice to the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) for huge pendency in issuing Ayushman cards. Despite 63 lakh eligible citizens in both Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, the municipal corporations have issued only 4 lakh cards, said officials.
On July 28, 2023, the Maharashtra government revamped the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojana (MJPJAY) making it universal and increasing health cover up to ₹5 lakh instead of the earlier limit of ₹1.5 lakh. Ayushman Bharat-PMJAY provide coverage of up to ₹5 lakh per family. Both the MJPJAY and PMJAY schemes in Maharashtra have been clubbed and implementation started in July this year.
A review meeting was held on Friday, headed by Dr Omprakash Shete, head of the Ayushman Bharat Mission Maharashtra Committee. He said that special efforts need to be made to increase the rate of card registration in both municipal corporation areas so that the benefits of the scheme reach the needy.
Present at the meeting were MP Medha Kulkarni, collector Dr Suhas Diwase, district civil surgeon Dr Nagnath Yempalay, charity commissionerate officials and representatives of hospitals.
Dr Shete said that a notice has been issued to both municipal corporations for their poor performance and lenient approach towards the scheme. None of the representatives even attended the meeting. “Pune district has 63.61 lakh eligible beneficiaries and only 13.10 lakh have received their Ayushman cards. Out of these, 9 lakh registrations have been carried out in Pune rural. However, both municipal corporations have carried out registration of only 4 lakh beneficiaries,” he said.
MP Medha Kulkarni advocated the inclusion of reputed big hospitals in the scheme, emphasising the need to provide high-quality treatment to economically disadvantaged citizens. She assured her support in these efforts.
Collector Dr Diwase underlined the necessity to expedite issuance of Ayushman Bharat cards across the district with upcoming reviews involving food and civic supply department and CSC representatives to accelerate the process.
Dr Preeti Lokhande, the district’s senior coordinator for the scheme, presented detailed information on the current status and challenges. The session concluded with discussions on the reasons behind underperformance in some hospitals and strategies to meet the expected targets for Ayushman Bharat card registrations.