PMJAY: Pre-authorisation in half-an-hour, says Govt

NEW DELHI: In a precautionary measure to deal with the menace of fake Ayushman Bharat-national Health Protection Scheme websites, Union Health Minister JP Nadda on Monday said that the government was serious on cracking them and had come up with a foolproof plan to avoid duplication of beneficiaries.

While launching the logo of Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY), which was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day speech, the Health Minister said that there would be a QR code in each letter through which beneficiaries would be ‘authenticated’ by Arogya Mitra deputed by every hospital empanelled with the PMJAY scheme.

“We are very serious about cracking against fake websites, there is no need for enrollment and no payment of fee is required. There will be a QR code in each letter through which beneficiaries will be identified. Once a family is verified, a card will be given to them,” Nadda told reporters at a Press meet.

Nadda said that the ambitious health insurance scheme would be rolled out across the country on September 25. Notably, September 25 is also celebrated as the birth anniversary of RSS ideologue Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay.

Nadda said that the Rs 5 lakh health insurance and assurance scheme will cover about 10.74 crore poor and vulnerable families as listed in the socio-economic caste census data. He further said that all government hospitals were deemed to be empanelled under the scheme, while the process of empanelment for private hospitals was on.

“The states have been given the flexibility to decide on any mode of implementation. The states are free to adopt either insurance mode or trust mode or mixed. Some states who have not yet on board have been asked to join as benefits of the PMJAY will portable across the country, which will not be the case with any state-run health insurance scheme,” the minister said, adding that around 85 per cent rural and 60 per cent of urban families have been identified, while the remaining families would be identified soon.

Clearing the air on the facilities under the ambit of the health insurance scheme, Nadda said that all the cost of diagnostic procedures and drugs three days before hospitalisation and two days after discharge would be covered.

“Treatment at government hospitals is free but there are fees that are charged. That will be covered under the scheme. Pre-authorisation for the PMJAY will be done in halfan-hour,” Nadda said.

Nadda said the Centre had consulted with state governments about the scheme before seeking Cabinet approval. Initially, states such as West Bengal, Delhi, Odisha, Punjab and Karnataka had made noises about opting out. “We first consulted with states then went to the cabinet. This is cooperative federalism,” he said.

The funding for the scheme will be shared – 60:40 for all states and UTS with their own legislature, 90:10 in NE states and the three Himalayan states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal and Uttarakhand and 100 per cent Central funding for UTS without a legislature.

“In total 29 states and UTS have signed the MOU and have started working on the implementation of the PMJAY. The pilots have started in 16 states/ UTS and other states have also agreed to start pilots prior to the launch of the scheme on September 25,” Nadda said.