CHANDIGARH:With a view to ensuring quality healthcare facilities to the needy and deprived sections across state under Ayushman Bharat–Mukh Mantri Sehat Bima Yojana (AB-MMSBY) free treatment worth Rs. 1112.41 crores provided to 9.63 lakh entitled beneficiaries in the state.
Disclosing this here today, Deputy Chief Minister and Health & Family Welfare Minister Mr. O.P. Soni said that this welfare scheme was presently covering around 40 lakh families including ration card holder families, the families listed in Socio-Economic Caste Census 2011, farmers holding J-forms and sugarcane weighment slips, registered construction workers, small traders and yellow card holders or accredited journalists etc. He said that each family is eligible for annual insurance cover for secondary and tertiary care services up to INR 5 Lakh per family, with no cap on family size, age or pre‐existing medical conditions, ensuring that necessary treatment is availed by those in need. For covering these 15 lakh left-out families, the required IT portals and various processes are being developed and very soon, the coverage to these families will be ensured, he added.
Since its launch, the Deputy Chief Minister said, the scheme has shown consistent growth and uptake across the State. With over 9.63 lakh treatments worth 1, 112 Crores, 921 empaneled hospitals (245 Public Hospitals and 676 Private Hospitals) and over 80% of entitled families distributed e‐cards, AB-MMSBY has been accelerating its growth trajectory. In these empaneled hospitals the entitled beneficiaries can avail the cashless treatment under the scheme for indoor hospitalization for around 1579 treatment packages covered under the Scheme.
The Deputy Chief Minister informed that the Punjab Cabinet in its meeting held on November 9, 2021 had accorded approval to the universalization of Ayushman Bharat – Mukh Mantri Sehat Bima Yojana, under which the entire population of Punjab would be provided an insurance cover of Rs. 5 lakhs per family per year, except for State and Central Govt. employees and pensioners. The 40 lakh families of Punjab are already covered under the scheme .The family registration of the other 15 lakh left-out families shall be carried out on Aadhaar-based authentication, and the enrollment forms shall be available at empaneled hospitals, Common Service Centers (CSCs) and Suvidha Kendras, where the facility of e-card issuance is available through BIS portal. The beneficiary will have to carry aadhaar card and proof of residence, such as electricity bill, Water bill, Passport, or any Govt. issued document/ID/certificate containing the residence address to get them registered, e-card issued and avail cashless treatment under the scheme.
The scheme is an initiative to move from sectoral and segmented approach of health service delivery to a comprehensive need-based health care service. This scheme aims to holistically address the healthcare needs at the secondary and tertiary level”, said OP Soni.
The Deputy CM emphasized that by universalizing the scheme, the focus this year will be on expanding the reach of the scheme network and services to other left-out population groups; thus, fulfilling the commitment of the Govt. to provide health for all. Under this scheme, heart surgeries of 16370 patients, knee replacement and hip replacement surgeries of 6349 patients, treatment of cancer of 12815 patients and dialysis of 2, 20, 968 patients as well as treatment of other diseases have been provided free of cost.
The Dy. Chief Minister cum Health Minister also appealed to the eligible beneficiaries under the scheme, who have not yet made their cards, to check their eligibility at the nearest empaneled hospital, CSC center, service center or visit department's website www.sha.punjab.gov.in.