India launches ‘world’s biggest’ govt. healthcare programme

Ranchi, Sep. 23 (IANS): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday launched the ‘Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY)’ here, hailing it as the “world’s biggest state-run healthcare scheme”.

Launching the scheme, Modi said the intended beneficiaries outnumber the total population of the European Union or that of the USA, Canada and Mexico put together.

Modi said that the scheme, which targets more than 50 crore people, will be a subject for research for medical and social scientists and a model for the world to follow. He had announced AB-PMJAY in his Independence Day speech.

Without taking names, Modi used the occasion to target the Congress for “using schemes for the sake of vote-bank politics”.

“Since long, we have been hearing the slogan of ‘gareebi hatao’ (abolish poverty) but they only indulged in politics of poverty, politics of vote bank. They were only giving out freebies to the poor instead of empowering them.

Modi also laid the foundation stone of medical colleges at Chaibasa and Koderma in Ranchi, and distributed e-card, a unique helath identity card, to the beneficiaries of PMJAY.

Jharkhand Governor Draupadi Murmu, Chief Minister Raghubar Das and Union Ministers J.P. Nadda and Jayant Sinha were present on the occasion.

The scheme will provide a cover of up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year, for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation through a network of Empanelled Health Care Providers (EHCP).

The EHCP network will provide cashless and paperless access to services for the beneficiaries at both public and private hospitals.

The services will include 1,350 procedures covering pre- and post-hospitalisation, diagnostics and medicines.