The southern states of Tamil Nadu and Karnatakaare the top beneficiaries of the free hospitalisation benefits under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY), reflecting their systemic efficiency compared to populous and aspirational states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
Free hospital care worth over Rs 1.51 lakh crore has been provided to beneficiaries under the scheme, which offers Rs 5,00,000-a-year free health cover to the 40% of the bottom of the pyramid, since the scheme was rolled out in September 2018.
Even though Uttar Pradesh leads in terms of Ayushman Cards issued and the number of hospitals empanelled, Tamil Nadu saw the highest number of admissions (11 million) during the period, followed by Karnataka (10.93 million). Authorised admissions under the scheme have reached 106.2 million so far across the country.
Despite 6,213 hospitals or 17% of the total hospitals under the scheme (35,987) empanelled in Uttar Pradesh, the populous state comes in third in hospital admissions (9.3 million), reflecting systemic inefficiencies. Despite being relatively backward, Bihar is at 14th place with just 2.9 million admissions so far.
Top specialities include general medicine, ophthalmology, general surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology and medical oncology.
Top procedures include Chronic haemodialysis, Phaco emulsification with foldable hydrophobic acrylic IOL, animal bites, caesarean delivery and without exploration of CBD-Lap.
The scheme was made available for 107 million poor households in the country in 2018, roughly covering the bottom 40% of the population.
When the scheme was launched, an estimated 62% of healthcare costs were borne out of pocket, pushing millions of Indians into poverty every year. Since then, it has come down substantially, according to the government.
In September 2024, the government extended Rs 5 lakh-a-year free health cover to all senior citizens above 70 years, irrespective of income status, under the PMJAY scheme. The move would benefit approximately 60 million senior citizens.
Under PMJAY, close to 2,000 procedures are available for beneficiaries to get cashless treatment, which includes all the costs related to treatment, medicines, supplies, diagnostic services, physician’s fees, room charges, surgeon charges, OT & ICU charges, etc.
</p> |
