AB PM-JAY catered to 5.7 crore hospital admissions costing more Rs 70000 crore: Health Ministry

New Delhi: The Centre's health insurance scheme Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri - Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) has crossed the milestone of generating 26 crore Ayushman cards across the country, the health ministry said in a statement. With four crore cards, Uttar Pradesh tops the list of states with the highest number.

Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh stand at number two and three positions with 3.69 crore and 2.04 crore Ayushman cards, respectively.

The health ministry further said in the statement 49 per cent Ayushman cards are held by female beneficiaries.

The AB PM-JAY has successfully catered to 5.7 crore hospital admissions costing more than Rs 70,000 crore, the statement added.

Also Read:5 Crore hospital admissions authorized under Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana

The flagship scheme being implemented by the National Health Authority (NHA) provides a health cover of Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation to 12 crore beneficiary families.

Ayushman card generation is the "most fundamental activity" under the AB PM-JAY and concerted efforts are being continuously made to ensure every beneficiary under the scheme has an Ayushman card, the ministry said.

It is one of the key activities under the Ayushman Bhav campaign launched to ensure 100 per cent coverage of the central government's health schemes.

Since the launch of the campaign on September 13, more than 1.5 crore Ayushman card requests have been successfully received on NHA's IT platform. In October, 86 lakh Ayushman cards were created till Thursday, the statement stated.

The NHA has launched the 'Ayushman App' to generate Ayushman card. The app has a unique feature of self-verification, which enables users to generate Ayushman card in four steps without visiting any centre, the statement said.

The app has been downloaded more than 26 lakh times since its launch.