India forms committee for proper implementation of Ayushman Bharat scheme

The Narendra Modi government on Thursday (March 14) announced the formation of a high-level committee, led by Dr V.K. Paul, for a review of the Ayushman Bharat scheme ensuring its proper implementation.

The newly-constituted committee will look into the following:

Roles and responsibilities of both the central and state governments.

• The progress of the scheme.
• The different modes of implementation.
• The expansion of the beneficiary base.
• The scheme’s financial viability.
• Avenues for extending services and benefits.

One of the key tasks assigned to the committee is to devise measures to prevent fraud and abuse within the scheme. Furthermore, the committee will suggest measures to strengthen the implementation of Ayushman Bharat.

The government has formally notified the setting up of the committee on March 8, 2024, and has set a deadline of 45 days for the panel to submit its report.

Ayushman Bharat is a flagship scheme of the government which was launched as per the recommendations under the National Health Policy 2017, with an aim to achieve the vision of Universal Health Coverage (UHC).

The Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana or PM-JAY, the scheme under review, currently is the largest health assurance scheme in the world which aims at providing a health cover of ₹5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation.

As per the Union Health Ministry, over 25.21 crore Ayushman cards have been generated, and the number is expected to soon surpass 30 crore.

The government claims that more than 5.68 crore authorised hospital admission counts have been recorded. Around ₹70,000 crore has been registered as authorised hospital admission amount and over 26,000 hospitals have been empanelled on the scheme. CNBCTV18