Bhubaneswar: The newly formed BJP Government in Odisha led by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi will soon implement the the flagship health protection scheme Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) in the State nearly six years after its nationwide rollout.
The Chief Minister has asked the Health and Family Welfare department to get all formalities ready to start the process of rolling out the scheme in current fiscal. All the states have implemented the scheme, which was launched in 2018, except West Bengal, Odisha, and NCT Delhi.
As per guidelines, the State will have to sign an MoU with the Centre to implement the scheme. Modalities are being finalised to integrate it with the state scheme Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY). At present, 1.03 crore families are being covered by BSKY through over 866 empanelled hospitals in and outside the state.
The previous BJD government had introduced BSKY by forgoing the central scheme, then named as National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) Ayushman Bharat, following disagreement between the state and Centre over the number of beneficiaries and eligibility criteria.
While the Centre had asked Odisha government to include 61 lakh families as per the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC), 2011 and finalise the list of beneficiaries after a fresh enumeration, the state had demanded inclusion of 69 lakh families. BSKY was launched as the figure was not acceptable to the Centre. The number of households covered under the state scheme crossed one crore after Odisha government relaxed the eligibility criteria.
“We are now finalising the list of beneficiaries as per the eligibility criteria of AB-PMJAY. Once the number is segregated, it will be easier to make a list of left-out beneficiaries, who will be covered under the state scheme,” said a health official as quoted by The New Indian Express.
The eligibility criteria of the state scheme is also being reviewed to fine tune it and exclude those who are either getting benefits under other health insurance schemes or capable of availing them. The government is also planning to change the name of the State scheme. It will have to tread cautiously to ensure that no eligible beneficiary is left out and the exclusion, if any, does not cost BJP dearly, sources said.
“The annual budget for BSKY was around Rs 2,300 crore whereas the AB-PMJAY outlay will be little over Rs 300 crore with the funding ratio of 60:40 as the health coverage under the scheme is Rs 5 lakh instead of Rs 10 lakh under the state scheme in case of women beneficiaries. The budgetary provisions will be made taking everything into consideration,” the official said.
AB-PMJAY currently has a network of 30,178 empanelled hospitals, including 12,881 private ones. The scheme has an inter-state portability that would be helpful to migrants.
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