Government claims Over 8.7 lakh hospital admissions, 50.6 lakh tests authorised for COVID-19

New Delhi: Over 8.7 lakh hospital admissions and 50.6 lakh tests were authorized for COVID-19 under the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) as of March 16, the government informed the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

On how the Ayushman Bharat scheme was utilized during the COVID-19 pandemic to reduce the financial burden on the poor, Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar, in a written reply, said the National Health Authority (NHA) has been providing necessary support to states/UTs for ensuring free COVID-19 testing and treatment to all eligible beneficiaries under AB-PMJAY.

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When the pandemic started, initially existing treatment packages were used for providing Covid related treatment.

Later, special packages for treatment and testing of COVID-19 were introduced, the minister said.

Many state governments decided to make COVID-19 testing and treatment free for all residents. While some of them used Ayushman Bharat PMJAY ecosystem, including NHA's IT platform, others used their own IT systems.

Therefore, COVID-19 treatments are captured in both general and COVID-19 specific packages of AB-PMJAY, Pawar said in the written reply.

"As of March 16, a total of 8.74 lakh hospital admissions and 50.6 lakh tests are authorized for COVID-19 under AB-PMJAY. This is with respect to transactions recorded on the NHA IT platform as well as the information shared by states, using their own IT systems," Pawar stated.

Medical Dialogues team has recently published that India is strongly poised to implement the framework of "Total Health and One Health" through its focussed, integrative, and holistic policies, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Saturday.

In his valedictory address at the post-Union Budget webinar of the Ministry of Health, Mandaviya said telemedicine and the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission will rightly propel India towards a revolution in the healthcare sector.

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