Healthcare for all Indians - PM Jan Arogya Yojana

The PMJAY has completed three years of working

 Healthcare for all Indians - PM Jan Arogya Yojana

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[Read original coverage 2018 here ##eye##]

• The story: Three years have passed, since the massive PM JAY was launced. Now, the government is expanding the same.
• Large campaigns: As a country, India has run successful population scale immunisation campaigns to eradicate diseases like smallpox and polio. These involved the participation and one of the largest ever mobilisation of all segments of society. At the same time, India faced challenges in the healthcare sector to bring equitable access to quality healthcare for all Indians.
• The financial burden: With an out-of-pocket expenditure of nearly 60 per cent in healthcare, the hospitalisation rates have been even lower in the economically weaker sections of the society. For many Indians, hospitalisation bears severe socio-economic consequences. How? It is estimated that nearly 60 million Indians get pushed into poverty due to catastrophic out-of-pocket expenses.
• Help is at hand: In the backdrop of such realities, the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) was launched on September 23, 2018, by the PM. In the three years of its existence, the scheme contributed to addressing the challenge of equitable access to in-patient healthcare for the poor.

1. AB PM-JAY facilitated approximately 2.2 crore hospital admissions worth Rs.26,450 crore through a network of nearly 24,000 hospitals across the country.
2. The scheme emerged as the world’s largest government funded healthcare scheme that aims to cover 10.74 crore families or 53 crore individuals, identified from the Socio-Economic Caste Census database of 2011.
3. The 33 States/UTs implementing AB PM-JAY have further expanded the beneficiary database to 13.44 crore families (65 crore individuals).

• Network of providers: With a vast network of 24,000 empanelled healthcare providers across India, AB PM-JAY is implemented through a robust data-driven technology framework. The PM-JAY IT system has the capacity to handle more than 30 beneficiary verification transactions per second. Additionally, 28  hospital admissions are raised on the PM-JAY transaction management system per minute. The scheme essayed a crucial role in enlisting the support of the healthcare ecosystem to foster improved access to quality healthcare. Nearly 60 per cent of all hospitalisations have come from the private sector.
• The future: The govt. wants to aggressively expand the footprint of the scheme and create a bigger impact on the healthcare ecosystem and wider society.

1. The target now is to enrol 10 crore new beneficiaries in the fiscal year 2021-22. The beneficiary identification systems is being upgraded, to facilitate easier and faster enrolment for the scheme’s beneficiaries.
2. The rationalising of packages, rates, and treatment protocols to align the same with the expectations of the medical fraternity is being done.
3. This will help in making the packages more viable for the empanelled healthcare providers and attractive for newer ones to join the PM-JAY ecosystem.
4. Through programmes like Ayushman Mitra, the participation of our HCWs (healthcare workers), FLWs (frontline workers), civil society and make their role more integral to the growth and success of this scheme is being pushed.

• NDHM: The AB PM-JAY now aspires to build a healthcare super-highway in consonance with the National Digital Health Mission (a flagship scheme also driven by the NHA) to offer a holistic continuum of healthcare for innumerable families in the country. However, it ultimately remains an insurance scheme. The need is to build more government facilities (hospitals) across India, where the govt. may provide services directly without any insurance scheme.
• EXAM QUESTIONS: (1) Explain the pros and cons of the PM-JAY scheme. (2) What role was played by the PM-JAY during the Covid-19 pandemic? Explain.
  

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