India's healthcare sector has achieved milestone with the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) disbursing Rs 1 lakh crore for free hospital care to 7.37 crore patients as of June 30, 2024.
This data, compiled by the Ministry of Health, underscores the government's commitment to providing affordable and accessible healthcare to the nation's most vulnerable populations.
The AB-PMJAY, implemented across 33 states and Union Territories, aims to provide a health cover of Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation.
The scheme targets approximately 55 crore beneficiaries, corresponding to 12.34 crore families, constituting the bottom 40 per cent of India's population. This makes it the world's largest health insurance scheme, a testament to India's strides in universal health coverage.
The leading states in the creation of Ayushman cards under the PMJAY scheme include Madhya Pradesh with 402.5 lakh cards, Maharashtra (280 lakh), Karnataka (171.5 lakh), Jammu and Kashmir (85.9 lakh), Telangana (82.5 lakh), Tamil Nadu (73.6 lakh), and Meghalaya (19.76 lakh). This widespread distribution of Ayushman cards reflects the scheme's extensive reach and its success in penetrating diverse geographical regions.
Beneficiaries eligible under the scheme can create their Ayushman card at any time throughout the year, either by using the Ayushman App or by visiting the nearest Common Service Center (CSC) or an empanelled hospital. This flexibility in the card creation process ensures that beneficiaries can access the scheme's benefits conveniently and promptly.
The AB-PMJAY provides cashless and paperless healthcare services related to hospitalisation across more than 29,000 empanelled hospitals in the country. The cashless treatment covers all costs related to treatment, medicines, supplies, diagnostic services, physician's fees, room charges, surgeon charges, and intensive care unit charges.
The top speciality care treatments availed by beneficiaries to date include general medicine, infectious diseases, general surgery, medical oncology, ophthalmology, and orthopaedics. The scheme also provides cashless healthcare services related to 1,949 procedures across 27 medical specialties, ensuring comprehensive care for beneficiaries.
The budget allocation for the PMJAY scheme for 2024-25 has been increased by 10 per cent to ₹7,300 crore from the revised estimate of ₹6,800 crore in 2023-24. This increased allocation reflects the government's commitment to strengthening the healthcare sector and ensuring the continued provision of free hospital care to millions of beneficiaries under the PMJAY scheme.
Overall, the allocation to the Health Ministry in the budget has been raised by 12.96 per cent to ₹90,958.63 crore compared to ₹80,517.62 crore in the revised estimate for 2023-24. This increased budget allocation will further bolster the healthcare sector and enable the government to implement more comprehensive and effective healthcare policies and programs.
As part of the healthcare package in the Budget, the government has also announced customs duty exemptions on three cancer treatment drugs -- Trastuzumab Deruxtecan, Osimertinib, and Durvalumab.
The scheme's success in disbursing Rs 1 lakh crore for free hospital care to 7.37 crore patients enables the government continue to invest in healthcare and implement innovative policies like the AB-PMJAY, said the ministry.
