PM-JAY (Syllabus: GS Paper 2 - Health)

Context: Over a third of hospitals empanelled under Ayushman Bharat are inactive, official data showed, in a worrying trend for the world’s largest health insurance scheme aiming for universal health coverage.

Key Point

• Out of 27,000 hospitals empanelled for Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) since its 2018 launch, only 18,783 remain active, the latest health ministry data showed. 
• Among the rest, 4,682 hospitals have been inactive since the beginning, having never catered to a single PM-JAY beneficiary. 
• Further, 3,632 hospitals tur-ned inactive in last six months, taking the total number of inactive hospitals to 8,314.

PM-JAY

• PM-JAY is the largest health assurance scheme in the world, covering over 10 crore families (approximately 50 crore beneficiaries) that form the bottom 40% of the Indian population.
• The scheme being implemented by the National Health Authority (NHA) provides health cover of ?5 lakhs per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization.
• The beneficiaries can avail of cashless and paperless treatment at any of the empanelled hospitals across the country.
• The scheme is based on the Socio-Economic Caste Census 2011 (SECC 2011) data, which ensures that no eligible beneficiary is left out.
• The other component of Ayushman Bharat is the Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs), which are being established by transforming the existing Sub Centres and Primary Health Centres.
• These centres provide comprehensive primary health care services, including maternal and child health, non-communicable diseases, free essential drugs and diagnostic services, and health promotion and prevention.
• Except for Delhi, Odisha, and West Bengal, the AB PM-JAY is being implemented in 33 states and union territories.