New Delhi: In a major development, the Odisha government on Monday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with National Health Authority (NHA) under the Union Ministry of Health for implementation of Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) in the state.
With the signing of the MoU, Odisha has become the 34th State/Union Territory to implementing AB PM-JAY. At present, only West Bengal and the National Capital Territory of Delhi have not implemented the Central government health scheme. “The government is working with remaining States and UTs to get them to join the scheme,” said a senior official from the Health ministry. As per the official, AB PM-JAY was implemented in Odisha after the new State government accepted to be a part of the scheme.
'A historic moment'
Odisha joining the Ayushman Bharat PM JAY scheme is a historic moment, said Union Health Minister JP Nadda. “Political ego should not come in the way of States in choosing people centric schemes,” said Nadda during the signing ceremony of MoU between Central and State governments. Stating that 45 per cent of India’s population covered under Ayushman Bharat PM JAY scheme, Nadda said that since 2018, over 8 crore hospitalisations have been recorded under AB PM-JAY. “Hospitalisation has significantly increased in far flung and remote areas of the country due to access to health facilities aided by AB PM JAY scheme,” said Nadda.
The National Health Authority signed the MoU with the Odisha government's Department of Health & Family Welfare for implementation of Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) in the state. The agreement was signed between the Chief Executive Officer, National Health Authority (NHA) LS Changsan and Commissioner-cum-Secretary of Odisha's Department of Health & Family Welfare Aswathy S in New Delhi.
Apart from Nadda, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram, Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, Deputy Chief Minister Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo and State Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Mukesh Mahaling were present at the programme. The Odisha government has already been implementing Gopabandhu Jan Arogya Yojana (GJAY) and now the integration of Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana with Gopabandhu Jan Arogya Yojana is expected to benefit over 1.03 crore total families under the converged scheme.
Coverage of Rs 5 lakh Per Annum
This combined initiative aims to provide comprehensive healthcare coverage of Rs 5 lakh per family per annum with additional Rs 5 lakh for women members. Before the signing of the MOU, the NHA team led by its CEO visited Bhubaneswar and interacted with the the State's Health Minister and chief secretary. Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY is the largest health assurance scheme which aims at providing a health cover of Rs 5 lakhs per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization to over 12 crores poor and vulnerable families (approximately 55 crore beneficiaries) that form the bottom 40 per cent of the Indian population. Taking the scheme further, the government has announced plans to bring all people over 70 years of age under the PMJAY. Odisha has 17,32,569 families where the number of senior citizens aged over 70 years are 23,12,979.
