New Delhi: All senior citizens above 70 years of age and the transgender community will be covered under the Centre’s health insurance scheme Ayushman Bharat Yojana, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Sunday after releasing the BJP manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections.
The Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), the largest health insurance scheme in the world of its kind, aims to provide a health cover of Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation to over 10.74 crore poor and vulnerable families.
The beneficiaries comprise 50 crore people that form the bottom 40 percent of the Indian population. The households included in the scheme, launched in 2018, are based on the deprivation and occupational criteria of Socio-Economic Caste Census 2011 (SECC 2011) for rural and urban areas respectively.
There are a total of 1,673 health benefit packages across various specialities that can be availed in around 23,000 hospitals empanelled under the programme.
A senior official in the Union health ministry said that in the past, as suggested by the government’s think tank Niti Aayog, there had been discussions to expand the coverage of the scheme.
“This included the missing middle — or people not covered under any government or private health insurance scheme — and senior citizens, but not much moved on that front owing to financial considerations,” the ministry official said.
When contacted, Deepti Gaur Mukerjee, chief executive officer of the National Health Authority (NHA) which implements the AB-PMJAY, declined to comment on the latest announcement by the ruling party.
More medical colleges, seats in medicine
The BJP in its manifesto claimed that the government had taken many successful steps in the last ten years to expand and improve health services.
These included focusing on yoga, fitness, clean air, pure water and nutritious food for the overall well being of the citizens and developing vaccines to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, it said.
The 76-page document also stated that the ministry of AYUSH was created to promote traditional medicine, new medical colleges were opened to increase the number of doctors and medical care was provided to every person through the All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and Ayushman Arogya Mandir, the upgraded primary healthcare centres.
It also listed free medical treatment up to Rs 5 lakh provided under AB-PMJAY and use of technology extensively in every field as major achievements in the health sector.
“Modi’s guarantee is to further increase these efforts for a healthy India,” the manifesto said, adding that while the government established 15 AIIMS in the past decade to provide affordable and quality healthcare for all, the network will further be strengthened to provide quality healthcare across the country.
The ruling party also promised to increase the number of medical colleges, undergraduate and postgraduate seats in medicine and to strengthen the secondary and primary health care under the PM-Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PM-ABHIM).
The BJP manifesto also said that the government aims to launch a nationwide emergency and trauma care mission to provide immediate and effective care to trauma patients while existing efforts to eliminate tuberculosis, leprosy, lymphatic filariasis, measles and rubella, trachoma, and Kala Azar will be intensified by facilitating timely testing and access to medicines.
“In our increasingly complex society, mental well-being has emerged as a top priority,” says the manifesto.
It adds: “We will strengthen our traditional means including yoga and meditation, and also enhance the scope and coverage of mentall health initiatives like Manas and Manodarpan.”
Low-cost medicines, push for homegrown vaccines
The ruling party also promised to expand the network of the Jan Aushadhi Kendra — through which generic medicines are sold — to provide high-quality low-cost medicines to citizens.
It also said that the government will encourage and extend support to Indian vaccine manufacturers and biopharma companies in various capacities to boost production and distribution and aim to reduce the timeline for vaccine manufacturing.
According to the manifesto, the BJP will further strengthen India’s position as the ‘Pharmacy of the World’ by boosting the manufacturing and research capacities of the pharmaceutical sector, especially active pharmaceutical ingredients.
Through the manifesto, the party has also proposed to expand research-linked incentive schemes, encouraging companies to invest in research for new drugs, chemical entities and new biological entities.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)