Beneficiaries of Ayushman Bharat touches 1 crore

On May 20, 2020, the number of beneficiaries of Ayushman Bharat touched 1 crore. PM Modi had a telephonic conversation with the 1 croreth beneficiary of the scheme.

COVID-19

Post COVID-19, the Government of India made the testing and treatment of the disease free under Ayushman Bharat. The testing of COVID-19 is being carried out according to the protocols fixed by ICMR.

The testing facilities that are authorized by the ICMR were tied up with Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana. This was done in April 2020. Through this, the GoI is now offering free testing facilities to the beneficiaries of Ayushman Bharat registrants.

Ayushman Bharat

The Ayushman Bharat Scheme was launched in 2018. It was earlier known as National Health Protection Scheme. The scheme provides an insurance cover of Ts 5 lakh per annum per family. The eligible families under the scheme are fixed based on the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC).

Significance

According to National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), around 82% of urban households and 86% of rural households do not have health care insurance. Almost 17% of Indian households spend one-tenth of their budget on health services.

Therefore, to address these issues the GoI launched the Ayushman Bharat Mission under National Health Policy, 2017.

Month: Current Affairs - May, 2020