Ayushman scheme to be initiated in urban areas

LUCKNOW: Search for beneficiaries under the Ayushman health insurance scheme in the urban pockets of the state capital will begin from Monday as the registration in 146 villages under different gram panchayats got completed last week.

“Identification of families for the Ayushman scheme is completed in Lucknow’s rural pockets and now we will start the same for urban areas,” said the chief medical officer of Lucknow Dr Narendra Agrawal.

Ayushman Bharat is national health protection scheme which will cover over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families (approximately 50 crore beneficiaries) to provide coverage up to ₹5 lakh per family per year for hospitalization. Ayushman Bharat will subsume the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) and the Senior Citizen Health Insurance Scheme (SCHIS).

The entitlement for the scheme will be decided on the basis of deprivation criteria in the socio economic caste census database 2011. Majority of those in the BPL category are eligible for the benefit.

“We have sent the data from rural areas to the centralized portal and now more families will be enlisted. The head of the family and all members are being recorded for the benefit along with a mobile number,” said Dr Agrawal. The scheme has studied the loopholes of the previous health schemes and has put a cap on them. For fund transfer, the scheme has proposed transfer through an escrow account directly.

The selection of wards for the scheme in Lucknow will soon be done and then survey will start to identify the beneficiaries. “An every day review is being done for speedy progress in this scheme,” said Dr Agrawal. The scheme is likely to start facilitating the beneficiaries from August month. A final date for its launch is however yet to be announced.

THE ENTITLEMENT FOR THE SCHEME WILL BE DECIDED ON THE BASIS OF DEPRIVATION CRITERIA IN THE SOCIO ECONOMIC CASTE CENSUS DATABASE 2011