New Delhi: Being aware of the fact that the government's process to identify the list of Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) may lead to the exclusion of many real beneficiaries from the scheme, a Parliamentary Committee on Health and Family Welfare has suggested to the government to expand the list of beneficiaries under AB-PMJAY.
Taking note of the fact that the entitled individual under this flagship program can avail of the benefits, if he or she is included in the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) census 2011, the Committee headed by Rajya Sabha MP Prof Ram Gopal Yadav has expressed that "identifying the list of beneficiaries through the outdated SECC census 2011 data may lead to exclusion of many real beneficiaries."
Emphasizing the need to expand the list of beneficiaries under the scheme, the committee in its 133rd report submitted in the Rajya Sabha recently also recommends the Union Health Ministry conduct awareness campaigns for wider dissemination of guidelines by engaging the community health workers and the local government.
The AB-PMJAY scheme that was launched in 2018, provides health assurance of up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary healthcare hospitalization. As of date, nearly 10.75 crore beneficiary families have been identified as per SECC 2011. The health ministry has informed that the beneficiary families under AB PMJAY have been identified from the SECC-2011 on the basis of select deprivation and occupational criteria across rural and urban areas.
Significantly, the health ministry admitted certain limitations in the SECC database and said that there is no provision to update the database. "Nearly 30-40 percent of beneficiary families cannot be traced on the ground and it is difficult to communicate to beneficiaries about their eligibility as per SECC database. Further, searching the beneficiary database based on the demographic details is a cumbersome activity," the health ministry said.
The ministry further said that to overcome the shortcomings, the National Health Authority (NHA) has been collaborating with other ministries running welfare schemes using SECC database (Ministry of Power, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and Ministry of Rural Development) for the purpose of reaching out to common beneficiaries through their updated address and mobile number.
The ministry in its action taken report said that this activity has already commenced for the Pradhan Mantri Ujjawala Yojana SECC beneficiaries shared by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
Talking to ETV Bharat, Dr. Giridhar Gyani, director-general of the Association of Health Care Providers said that identification of the real beneficiaries of AB-PMJAY is a very challenging task. "The health ministry and the national health authority should actively explore all options to get the real beneficiaries enrolled under the mega national health scheme," said Dr Gyani.
It may be mentioned here that AB-PMJAY is being implemented in all States and UTs excluding West Bengal, NCT of Delhi, and Odisha.
