Odisha to launch Ayushman Bharat scheme on April 1

Bhubaneswar : The Odisha government has decided to launch Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana along with the existing Gopabandhu Jan Arogya Yojana in the State on April 1. This was decided at a meeting presided over by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Wednesday night.

The programme will be held in all 1,438 primary health centres of the State to launch this scheme. A massive awareness campaign will be launched to publicise and promote the scheme, official sources said. Earlier, an agreement was signed between the State government and the National Health Authority in New Delhi on January 13 for the implementation of Ayushman Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana in Odisha.

Over 1.03 lakh families in the State will benefit from both Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana and Gopabandhu Jan Arogya Yojana. More than 3.46 crore people will be benefited individually.

“These two schemes will be implemented jointly (Co-Branding) in Odisha. For these two schemes, each beneficiary will be provided with a card (Co-branded card),” an official said, adding that the beneficiaries in the Vaya Vandana Yojana (for elders of 70 years) will get a separate special card.

While around 67.80 lakh families will get benefit under Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, over 35.84 lakh families will avail of Gopabandhu Jan Arogya Yojana.

Similarly, people above the age of 70 will be included in Ayushman Bharat Vaya Vandana Yojana. According to the information, the number of people above the age of 70 years is 23,12,979. However, since about 17 lakh of them are included in Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, the remaining six lakh will get benefits under Gopabandhu Jan Arogya Yojana. Altogether, the total number of beneficiaries will be around 3.52 crore people in the State. Each male beneficiary will be provided with medical assistance of up to Rs 5 lakh while female beneficiary will get medical assistance of up to Rs 10 lakh. If there are beneficiaries above the age of 70 years in a family, the maximum medical expenditure per family will be Rs 15 lakh, it said.

The beneficiaries will be able to get medical assistance in more than 29,000 government and registered private hospitals in the country.