Ayushman Bharat scheme: Poor patients may soon get kidney transplant facility
LUCKNOW : Poor patients enrolled for medical care under the Ayushman Bharat scheme may soon get financial assistance for kidney transplant and other major procedures, under the central government’s flagship scheme.
“A recommendation has been sent to the National Health Authority (NHA) and soon facilities such as kidney transplant and cornea transplant will be available along with 1,500 other packages already available,” said Sangeeta Singh, CEO, State Agency for Comprehensive Health Insurance and Integrated Services (SACHIS), the nodal agency for Ayushman Bharat scheme in Uttar Pradesh.
The state has 1.75 crore families (approximately over 8 crore individuals) covered under the scheme and 1.60 crore Ayushman cards have been made against a target of 6 crore. UP has 2,775 hospitals, including government and private, empanelled to give treatment under the scheme.
“During the pandemic, a new category of infectious diseases, including mucormycosis, was added and there is a pre-existing unspecified package for providing treatment for diseases that are not included in the list of diseases,” said Singh at a function organised on Thursday to mark three years of the Ayushman Bharat scheme.
Apart from kidney transplant, cornea transplant and a few terminal illness conditions have been recommended by Uttar Pradesh for inclusion in Ayushman Bharat scheme. “We inform the NHA when we get repeated requests for treatment of certain ailments that are not in the existing package,” said Singh.
Doctors said transplant facility will be a major relief. “Kidney transplant facility under the Ayushman Bharat scheme will mean that the waiting list of hundreds of patients at government centres will be reduced. This because more options (hospitals) will then be available in private sector for poor patients,” said Dr Abhishek Shukla, secretary general, Association of International Doctors.
A lesser known benefit of the Ayushman Bharat scheme is portability. This enables beneficiaries of Uttar Pradesh get treatment in other states’ empanelled hospitals in case they need hospital care. “So, if a resident beneficiary of UP takes ill in Madhya Pradesh, the person may contact an empanelled hospital there,” said Singh.
According to statistics, 8,58,296 lakh beneficiaries have got treatment since the scheme started on September 23, 2018. Among them 43% (3,69,067) patients were females and the remaining 57% (4,89,229) males.
“UP has an assurance model to take care of medical expenses up to a certain level unlike insurance services where they (insurance companies) deduct payment citing different reasons when a claim arises,” she said.
In UP, 51000 eligible patients got treatment despite not having Ayushman cards made. This was possible as their names were on the list of beneficiaries.