Daijiworld Media Network – Bengaluru (MS)

Bengaluru, Feb 25: Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY, the central government's ambitious scheme to provide better healthcare services to the poor, has not achieved the expected level of enrolment in the state.

In 2018, the central government launched the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) programme with the aim of providing free healthcare to all. It was renamed and implemented again in the state two years ago.

However, it is ironic that only 31 percent have registered. So far 59 crore people have registered in the state. Another 3 crore 56 lac people are pending registration.

Registration is being done at the health centres including Grama One and the common service centres. Officials say that if only one has an Aadhaar card, BPL and a mobile number linked to the Aadhaar number can an applicant register his or her name. They say people are not responding even to the registration process which takes a few minutes.

Sharanappa M says that if the district administration carries out a campaign in villages, it may evoke a good response.

Beneficiary families who have registered under the Rashtriya Swasthya Bhima for BPL families will get free treatment up to Rs 5 lac per annum.

Officials say that this is a scheme that will benefit the poor. However, it has been found that the target of 50% registration has not been achieved so far in any district in the state. The highest number of registrations have been reported from Bengaluru rural district where 3,69,255 people have enrolled which is equivalent to 41% of the target. In Bengaluru city the target has reached only 9.6% as only 200 people have registered so far.

The programme offers free treatment up to Rs 5 lac per annum to the beneficiaries. This facility is available in many private hospitals on a co-pay basis for treatment costs for APL card holders or BPL i.e. Rs 1.5 lac per annum. It is said that families who do not have a family welfare card can get 30 percent of the treatment using the scheme.