NEW DELHI:
Beneficiaries of the Centre's Ayushman Bharat insurance programme or Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana account in Jharkhand,from where Narendra Modi will roll out the flagship scheme on Sunday, have been sent a two-page customised letter from the prime minister outlining the importance and benefits of the project.
"The prime minister will launch the scheme on September 23, but it will become operational from September 25 on the birth anniversary of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay," Niti Aayog member V K Paul, the chief architect of the scheme, had said.
Union Health Minister J P Nadda, who recently visited the Jharkhand capital, had said that money would not go to any person. It would go from institution to institution with the Centres contribution being 60 per cent and the states 40 per cent.
National Insurance Company(NIC) has bagged the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana account of Jharkhand.
The state has opted for a hybrid account where insurers NIC will provide cover fpor Rs 1 lakh while the rest will be managed by the state government.
NIC has signed MoU with the Government of Jharkhand to extend health insurance to 57 lakh families for a total premium of Rs 535 crores. The PSU genereal insurer is charging a premium of Rs 900/- per family per annum in the state..
Dinanath Pente, chief regional manager, Ranchi Regional Office signed the MoU on behalf of NIC with.Nidhi Khare, Principal Secretary, Govt. Of Jharkhand.
The government will send similar letters, which have been sent to the beneficiaries of Jharkhand,to 10.74 crore beneficiary families across the country gradually. The letters will have a photograph of Modi, a government official said.The letter mentions that the beneficiary family can avail the scheme in hospitals in their area and health facilities empanelled under the scheme across the country.
"I hope you will receive complete treatment without the need to worry about the expense and without any hassles," the letter states.
Through the Ayushman Bharat-National Health Protection Scheme, renamed Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Abhiyan, the government aims to provide a coverage of Rs five lakh per family annually to more than 10 crore poor households.
The scheme will target poor and deprived rural families and identified occupational category of urban workers' families, 8.03 crore in rural and 2.33 crore in urban areas, as per the latest Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) data, and will cover around 50 crore people.There is no cap on family size and age in the scheme ensuring that nobody is left out.
Billed as the world's largest government healthcare programme, it will be funded with 60 per cent contribution coming from the Centre and remaining from the states.It will cover around 50 crore people and over 8,735 hospitals, both public and private, have been empanelled for the scheme,
The entitlement is being decided on the basis of deprivation criteria in the SECC database. The beneficiaries are identified based on the deprivation categories (D1, D2, D3, D4, D5, and D7) identified under the SECC database for rural areas.
For urban areas, the 11 occupational criteria will determine entitlement. In addition, Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna beneficiaries in states where it is active are also included.
To make it a big event and send out a strong political message on Modi’s signature scheme, the Centre has asked cabinet ministers to head to their constituencies or their respective states on Sunday for simultaneous launch of PMJAY .
A special focus is on UP and Bihar that have highest number of beneficiaries at 1.18 cr and 1.09 cr families , respectively.
Meanwhile, Modi on Saturday slammed Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for rejecting the Centre's flagship Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme for the poor and alleged that a "PC" (percentage commission) culture has become the state government's identity.
"Everyone is aware of the importance of Ayushman Bharat scheme, but Naveen Babu does not understand. Odisha government should come forward and join the programme," Modi said.
Modi said because of the state government's decision, a large number of poor people in Odisha would be deprived of the benefits of Ayushman Bharat scheme, which, he added, aims to create a healthy, capable and content new India.
The Odisha government has not joined the central scheme, saying it has introduced a better programme, Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana, in the state.
As many as 31 states and Union territories have signed MoUs with the Centre and will implement the programme over the next two months, after its launch on Sunday. Remaining states and UTs – Telangana, Odisha, Delhi, Kerala and Punjab – have not signed, so the scheme will not be implemented in those states till they come on board.