With an eye on 2019 polls, Ayushman Bharat scope to be expanded

LUCKNOW: Ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the state government has decided to expand the scope of the centre’s flagship scheme Ayushman Bharat, with a fresh survey being conducted to include more beneficiary families.

The state, which has already listed 1.18 crore families, will add over 4 lakh more to the list which is being prepared by the social welfare department.

“The figure is not definite but the new list will have 4 to 5 lakh more families,” said a senior official in the health department.

The earlier list was finalised to facilitate poor families with ₹5 lakh per year family health insurance.

This was done on the basis of the Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) done in 2011 but later it was observed that many eligible families were left out while many well off people were included.

The move to weed out rich from the list has also been initiated. Teams from the social welfare department are reaching out to families, assessing their economic and social conditions. Enrolment will also be done on the same basis.

In the extended list, OBCs and dalits will form the majority chunk on whom the Bharatiya Janata Party is focusing.

Many in the government and party see this scheme as a game changer for the coming elections.

Over 20,000 golden cards for the beneficiary families have been made in the state and over 400 surgeries conducted in over 600 empanelled hospitals (both government and private).

The scheme was launched on September 23.

A day before, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said in one of his tweets, “Over the last month, I am seeing unparalleled enthusiasm towards PMJAY-Ayushman Bharat. A karyakarta in Ghazipur asked me about the ground covered since India rolled out the largest healthcare programme in the world.”