E-Paper
5.40 lakh patients benefit from PM-JAY scheme in UP, state govt says ₹449 crore spent on their treatment
Under the PM-JAY scheme, the beneficiaries from poor and vulnerable families were able to get treatment for serious illnesses for up to ₹5 lakh in government as well as private hospitals.
Over 5.40 lakh people in Uttar Pradesh have benefitted from the swift implementation of central government's Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY), the state government said on Tuesday. The numbers are from the period before the second wave of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) struck the state.
Under the scheme, the beneficiaries from poor and vulnerable families were able to get treatment for serious illnesses for up to ₹5 lakh in government as well as private hospitals, which they could not afford otherwise, the UP governmnt said. Out of these, 4.15 lakh patients (77 per cent) got treatment in private hospitals and 1.25 lakh in government hospitals.
Besides, 6.32 crore future beneficiaries of the scheme have also been identified whereas golden cards have been made for 1.10 crore destitute people, the state government further said.
So far, 2,646 hospitals have been connected to the scheme, of which 1,544 are private hospitals, according to UP government data. The list also includes some of the country's leading private hospitals.
The Yogi Adityanath government paid a total of ₹449 crore to the hospitals where the patients from Uttar Pradesh were treated under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana.
The PM-JAY, launched on September 23, 2018, is the world’s largest health insurance/assurance scheme fully financed by the Centre. It provides a cover of ₹5 lakh per family annually for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation for public and private enlisted hospitals in the country.
More than 100.7 million (10.74 crore) poor and vulnerable families are eligible for benefits.
Last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting on Covid relief measures across the country where he announced that children orphaned by the pandemic will be enrolled as beneficiaries under the PM-JAY scheme with a health insurance cover of ₹5 lakh, the premium of which will be paid from the PM-CARES fund till they reach 18 years of age.
