Delhi Arogya Kosh more inclusive than Ayushman Bharat scheme

NEW DELHI: The Aap-led Delhi government is set to change the ambit of its health scheme, Delhi Arogya Kosh (DAK) which will include the people of national Capital who are not benefitting from the Ayushman Bharat (AB) Scheme. Private hospitals under this scheme will get 10-30 per cent more than the rate fixed under the AB scheme. The government has already notified the changes in the scheme and the new changes will come into play soon.

When the central government brought Ayushman scheme, the Delhi government rejected the scheme and asked to bring its own health insurance scheme – DAK. While the centre supported AB scheme, launched in 2018, provides an annual health cover of Rs 5 lakh for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation per family through a network of hospitals the Delhi Government’s DAK guidelines includes each member of the family who can avail the benefits of up to Rs 5 lakh.

Under AB Scheme a print out which is to be collected from Common Service centre (CSC) for which the beneficiary has to pay Rs 30 per beneficiary, the DAK has no such expense and no hidden charges.

The DAK scheme previously had only 86 surgeries, but 1,016 surgeries have been added to the new guidelines. In this, six medical package mosquito-borne diseases have also been kept. There are 123 packages for cancer treatment and 10 packages related to newborns, something that the AB scheme lacks.

The Director General of Health Services (DGHS) planned to implement the DAK instead of the AB Scheme.

“According to the guideline, every citizen of Delhi will get free surgery and test facility under the scheme. The beneficiary above the age of 19 should have a voter ID card from Delhi and for children below 19, either Aadhaar card or a birth certificate can be used. If neither is available then children can get the facilities based on their parents’ voter ID card,” said a statement from the Delhi government.

Coordinator of Health, Dialogue and Development Commission GNCTD, Dr Nimmi Rastogi said, “This is a trust based model and it is completely cashless. We select hospitals based on number of beds it has, NABH accredited and many more similar criterias. We pay 10-30 per cent more than what the Ayushman packages pay.”