Over 23000 beneficiaries availed benefits of Ayushman Bharat since 2018: AIIMS

New Delhi: Over 23,000 beneficiaries have availed benefits under the Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme at the AIIMS here since September 2018, with a majority of the patients seeking treatment in the departments of medical oncology followed by ophthalmology, general medicine, orthopaedics and neurosurgery. 

As far as complex surgeries are concerned, 730 procedures for congenital heart diseases have been performed followed by 557 total hip replacements and 148 total knee replacements under the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY).

"The AIIMS, Delhi proudly announces the successful and effective implementation of the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (ABPMJAY) scheme. AIIMS has a centralised Ayushman Bharat Kendra located near gate no 1 which runs 24x7 for the smooth implementation of the scheme," the hospital said in a statement.

The Centre is run through Patient Care Managers and Pradhan Mantri Arogya Mitra supervised by a designated medical social welfare officer in-charge.

"The Ayushman Bharat team is dedicated to facilitate maximum utilisation of scheme by beneficiaries and have worked towards inclusion of all entitled beneficiaries coming to AIIMS, Delhi," the statement said.

The hospital is in the process of establishment of Ayushman Suvidha Kendras across AIIMS in the Rajkumari Amrit Kaur (RAK) OPD, Mother and Child Block, Surgical Block, Burns and Plastics Surgery block to facilitate easy access to healthcare by beneficiaries.

"We already run dedicated centres in NCI, Jhajjar and JPN Apex Trauma Centre to improve accessibility of the scheme by the beneficiaries," the hospital said.

Presently, under the scheme there are 1,109 packages, 1,949 procedures which are provided across 27 specialties, it added.

The AB-PMJAY is the world's largest publicly funded health assurance scheme which aims to provide health cover of Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation to 12 crore families.

Prof VK Bansal also informed us that the government has already identified a database of people below a certain income level who are eligible for this scheme.

"Currently, many people are not aware that they're covered under the scheme. So to make them aware, to make them enroll in this scheme, it is important that the scheme be publicised, and this gives a lot of benefits to the patient. Many poor patients can benefit from this scheme," he added.

At present, AIIMS has 1 Ayushman Kendra and the two extension counter-one in NCI- AIIMS, Jharjhar and anothor in the trauma center, Delhi.

"The plan is to expand the centers...The plan is to build 8 to 10 new centers in these new buildings and new blocks, extension counters in all these areas so that the patient gets the benefits of this scheme wherever they're getting admitted," Dr Bansal said. 

Also Read:AB PM-JAY: 30 crore Ayushman Cards issued, With 4.8 crore Uttar Pradesh tops the list