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Ayushman Bharat: Jharkhand picked for launch as it’s priority state, says Nadda
Ayushman Bharat: Union health minister JP Nadda said the scheme would be launched simultaneously across the country.
Union health minister JP Nadda on Tuesday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has picked up Jharkhand to launch world’s largest digital and cashless health care scheme Ayushman Bharat on September 23, as it is the priority state for the Centre.
“The state has done remarkable job on all health parameters in last three years,” said Nadda, adding, the Prime Minister will dedicate 10 health and wellness centres to Jharkhand on the occasion of National Health Protection Mission launch.
The centre’s flagship Ayushman Bharat would cover 10.74 crore families, around 55 crore people, across the country, including 57 lakh families in Jharkhand. The scheme would be launched simultaneously across the country, Nadda said.
The Union health minister said Jharkhand is all geared up for rolling out the scheme. “Arogya Mitras would be deputed at each empanelled public and private hospitals to provide health care services. We have decided to train the Aryogya Mitras on pilot basis, couple of days before the launch,” Nadda said.
Read more: Ayushman Bharat, building India’s new health base
Arogya Mitras would provide support in beneficiary verification, beneficiary authentication, beneficiary query management, grievance redressal and handling emergency cases.
Nadda said each family would be provided a chip-enabled golden card with ₹5 lakh cashless insurance coverage. “A letter is being issued from the Centre detailing the scheme. We want every beneficiary to receive the letter before launch of the scheme,” he said.
“A total of 1,350 lifesaving health procedures, including different kinds of surgeries, chemotherapy have been included under the Ayushman Bharat scheme. The scheme would be handled by national health agency and the state health agency,” the Union health minister said.
State health officials said Jharkhand has so far empanelled 200 private hospitals against the target of 500.
Centre has picked 28 lakh beneficiaries from deprived category of Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) data of 2011 in Jharkhand. State government has decided to give benefit of the scheme to all the households enlisted under food security Act, numbering 57 lakh households.
Centre would contribute 60% and state 40% for the 28 lakh households selected by the Centre while the state would contribute 100% for rest of the households.
The state government will run the scheme under hybrid-model in which health cover of ₹1 lakh would be disbursed through the government approved insurance company. Health claim of above ₹1 lakh and up to ₹5 lakh would be disbursed through trust mode by the implementation support agency.
