Ayushman Bharat to Expand in Delhi, Big Private Hospitals to Come Under Its Coverage
New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): All major private hospitals in Delhi will soon be able to treat patients under the ambitious Ayushman Bharat insurance scheme of the central government. Giving this information, Delhi Health Minister Pankaj Singh said that this change will be seen in the next 20-25 days. He made this announcement at a program organized on the occasion of completion of 100 days of the BJP government led by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta in Delhi.
Health Minister Pankaj Singh said that big private hospital groups like Max, Fortis and Apollo of Delhi had not yet joined the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY). Currently, apart from 11 government hospitals, 82 other private hospitals are listed on the dashboard of this scheme. He said that private hospitals of Delhi were hesitant to join this scheme due to non-clearance of pending payments under other schemes by the previous AAP government.
Singh accused the previous government of not making timely payments from the Delhi Arogya Nidhi (a financial aid scheme run by the Directorate General of Health Services). He assured that now he will ensure that all big hospitals get empanelled under Ayushman Bharat in the next 20-25 days and for this he will soon talk to them.
Under Ayushman Bharat PMJAY, patients from poor families get health insurance up to Rs 5 lakh, while patients above the age of 70 are also provided an insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh. The cover of Rs 5 lakh is given by the central government. Chief Minister Rekha Gupta had announced after the first meeting of her cabinet that the Delhi government will give an additional top-up of Rs 5 lakh to the beneficiaries.
According to government data, so far more than 3.16 lakh beneficiaries from poor families and 30 thousand people above the age of 70 years have been registered under this scheme. Beneficiaries for the scheme are selected on the basis of National Food Security Act (NFSA) data and Socio Economic and Caste Census 2011. The Health Minister also informed that so far 601 beneficiaries have availed health services under this scheme.