Faridabad, Dec 28 (IANS) The Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) has been setting new milestones in expanding the basic medical facilities to citizens and also in transforming the healthcare landscape of the country.
Haryana’s Palwal district has become an epitome of the scheme’s success as more than 5 lakh Ayushman Bharat cards have been made here while more than 40,000 beneficiaries have drawn benefits of the scheme.
The government-run civil hospital of Palwal is leading this drive to provide free and affordable treatments to patients, faced with small to life-threatening ailments including surgeries.
District Civil Surgeon Jai Bhagwan speaking to IANS gave a detailed insight on the health insurance scheme’s expanding footprint in the district and also on how thousands of locals got treated at the government hospital without any expense.
He informed that hundreds of beneficiaries were getting free of cost treatment in the civil hospital on a daily basis.
“A total of 7.7 lakh Ayushman cards are to be made in Palwal district, out of which 5.19 lakh have already been made so far. This means that 74 per cent of beneficiaries have already been covered,” he told IANS.
He further informed that a total of 23 government and 14 private hospitals are on the panel for availing benefits of Ayushman Bharat card.
Giving further details of the scheme’s penetration in the district, he said, “In the past 6 years, more than 40,000 beneficiaries have benefitted from the scheme. They got treated for many ailments including orthopaedics, cataracts, gynaecological problems and also general surgeries.
He also informed about provisions of filing a complaint by a patient, if he faces any trouble either with treatment or getting free treatment.
“If some patient feels any problem, they can raise their grievance by getting complaints registered on toll-free number 14505,” he said.
Notably, a total of 26 crore Ayushman cards were made across the country till October 2023. According to official estimates, the scheme has already catered to 5.7 crore hospital admissions worth more than Rs 70,000 crore, till last year.
Under the flagship scheme, implemented by the National Health Authority (NHA), close to 12 crore families are provided with health cover of Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation.
–IANS
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