‘Ayushman Bharat’ – Medical Hope for a New India.

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This is Biggest ever Health Protection scheme in the World. Narendra Modi Government announced it in 2018-19 General Budget. Roll-out has started in 3 Phases. Ayushman Bharat is National Health Protection Scheme, which will cover over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families (approximately 50 crore beneficiaries) providing coverage upto 5 lakh rupees per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization. Ayushman Bharat – National Health Protection Mission will subsume the on-going centrally sponsored schemes – Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) and the Senior Citizen Health Insurance Scheme (SCHIS).

Highlights !!! 

• Health Insurance worth 5 Lac to over 50 crore beneficiaries. 
• 1.5 Lakh Health and Wellness Centers across India, 1200 crore allocated
• One government Medical College for every 3 Parliamentary constituencies.
• Around ~2 Lac Crore would be spend in next 5-10 Years.
• 24 New Medical colleges will be established.
• “Mera Aaspataal” application launched to capture the Feedback of Patients.
• Under NHP 2017, Rs 600 crores allotted for the treatment of tuberculosis patients.

‘Ayushman Bharat’ have 2 Parts

(i) Health and Wellness Centre :-

The National Health Policy, 2017 a total of 1.5 lakh centers will bring health care system closer to the homes of people. These centers will provide comprehensive health care, including for non-communicable

diseases and maternal and child health services. These centers will also provide free essential drugs and diagnostic services. 

(ii) National Health Protection Scheme :-

The second flagship programme under ‘Ayushman Bharat’ is National Health Protection Scheme, which will cover over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families (approximately 50 crore beneficiaries) providing coverage upto 5 lakh rupees per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization.

Major Impact:

In-patient hospitalization expenditure in India has increased nearly 300% during last ten years. (NSSO 2015). More than 80% of the expenditure are met by out of pocket (OOP). Rural households primarily depended on their ‘household income / savings’ (68%) and on ‘borrowings’ (25%), the urban households relied much more on their ‘income / saving’ (75%) for financing expenditure on hospitalizations, and on ‘(18%) borrowings. (NSSO 2015). Out of pocket (OOP) expenditure in India is over 60% which leads to nearly 6 million families getting into poverty due to catastrophic health expenditures. AB-NHPM will have major impact on reduction of Out Of Pocket (OOP) expenditure on ground of:

i) Increased benefit cover to nearly 40% of the population, (the poorest & the vulnerable)

ii) Covering almost all secondary and many tertiary hospitalizations. (except a negative list)

iii) Coverage of 5 lakh for each family, (no restriction of family size)

This will lead to increased access to quality health and medication. In addition, the unmet needs of the population which remained hidden due to lack of financial resources will be catered to. This will lead to timely treatments, improvements in health outcomes, patient satisfaction, improvement in productivity and efficiency, job creation thus leading to improvement in quality of life.

Number of Beneficiaries:

 AB-NHPM will target about 10.74 crore poor, deprived rural families and identified occupational category of urban workers’ families as per the latest Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) data covering both rural and urban. The scheme is designed to be dynamic and aspirational and it would take into account any future changes in the exclusion/ inclusion/ deprivation/ occupational criteria in the SECC data.

Implementation Strategy

• At the national level to manage, an Ayushman Bharat National Health Protection Mission Agency (AB-NHPMA) would be put in place. States/ UTs would be advised to implement the scheme by a dedicated entity called State Health Agency (SHA). They can either use an existing Trust/ Society/ Not for Profit Company/ State Nodal Agency (SNA) or set up a new entity to implement the scheme.

• States/ UTs can decide to implement the scheme through an insurance company or directly through the Trust/ Society or use an integrated model.

Cabinet approved the largest government funded Health Program–Ayushman Bharat National Health Protection Mission (NHPM) 

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on 21 Mar 2018, approved the Centrally Sponsored National Health Protection Mission (NHPM) having central sector component under Ayushman Bharat, anchored in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

“A major step towards Universal Health Coverage” NHPM will protect about 50 crore people from catastrophic healthcare spending: This shall boost our resolve to serve the poorest of the poor in the country as there is an increased benefit cover to nearly 40% of the population. said J P Nadda.

Indian Medical Association (IMA) fully backs Ayushman Bharat – National Health Protection Mission (AB-NHPM)

Dr. R. N. Tandon, Hony. Secretary General, Indian Medical Association (IMA) said “IMA is proud to be associated with AB-NHPM and would be keen to provide help in spreading awareness and developing a larger network of quality service providers especially in Tier 2 & Tier 3 cities”.

20 States sign MoU for implementing Ayushman Bharat – National Health Protection Mission (AB-NHPM)

Shri J.P. Nadda emphasized that the success of the scheme hinges upon the active participation of the States. States need to own the scheme while Centre will design the policy framework with all possible flexibility and support. “Exchanging of Memorandum of Understanding is an important step in formalizing the partnership between Centre and States,” he added

CEO AB-NHPM, Shri Indu Bhushan urged the States to seek approval and release RFP for insurance company hiring (in case of insurance mode) or Implementation support agency (ISA) in case of trust mode implementation. 25 states have so far signed .

Beneficiaries of the Centre’s flagship medical insurance scheme Ayushman Bharat will receive a letter from Prime Minister Narendra Modi informing them about its benefits.  The Modi government is all set to roll out the scheme on August 15.

Avinash Srivastava

Nationalist | News Savvy | Fact Reader | Data Analyst | Statistics Observer | Jai Hind !!! 

(Management Graduate & Professional)

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