India News | Over 23,000 Beneficiaries Availed Benefits of Ayushman Bharat Since 2018: AIIMS Officials

New Delhi [India], February 15 (ANI): Over 23,000 beneficiaries have availed of benefits under the Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme at AIIMS Delhi since September 2018.

The beneficiaries have availed the benefits under the scheme, with a majority of the patients seeking treatment in the departments of medical oncology, followed by ophthalmology, general medicine, orthopaedics and neurosurgery.

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"A total of 23,260 beneficiaries have availed the benefits under the scheme in AIIMS. Top five specialties are medical oncology (5179), ophthalmology (4275), general medicine (3169), orthopaedics (2260) and neurosurgery (2223)," the institute said in a press release.

AB-PMJAY is a flagship scheme of the Government of India launched on the recommendation of National Health Policy 2017 to achieve the vision of Universal Health Coverage (UHC), designed to meet Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and its underlying commitment, which is to "leave no one behind."

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the launch of the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna (AB-PMJAY) on August 15, 2018.

The scheme became operational on September 25, 2018, on the birth anniversary of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay. PM-JAY provides cashless access to health care services for the beneficiary.

"AIIMS New 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 Centre is run through PCMs (Patient Care Managers) and PMAMS (Pradhan Mantri Arogya Mitra) supervised by a designated Medical Social Welfare Officer- In charge under continuous guidance and support from Chief Medical Social Welfare officer and Officer In-charge Department of Hospital Administration," the AIIMS said in the statement.

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).

AIIMS, New Delhi, takes a significant stride towards the betterment of healthcare by implementing the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, aiming to revolutionise healthcare access for millions of people, especially those from economically weaker sections of society.

It further said that the Ayushman Bharat team, under the guidance of Dr VK Bansal, Professor In-Charge, PMJAY, is dedicated to facilitate maximum utilisation of the scheme by beneficiaries and has worked towards the inclusion of all entitled beneficiaries coming to AIIMS, New Delhi.

It also said that the hospital is in the process of establishing 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.

Presently, under the scheme, there are 1109 packages, 1949 procedures that are provided across 27 specialties.

Prof VK Bansal, while speaking to ANI, said that this scheme is very beneficial to the poor patients, especially those who are coming to the tertiary care centers for sophisticated treatment of diseases that cannot be treated outside and only have to be treated at AIIMS.

"This is a very unique scheme in the sense that in this scheme, the government has given a health insurance of Rs 5 lakh per family to almost 50 crore population of India and all the major diseases like transplants, knee replacement, hip replacement and complicated heart surgeries, neurosurgeries, cataract surgery, cancer treatment are included in the treatment under this Ayushman Bharat scheme," he said.

He further said that around 5,000 cancer patients are among the beneficiaries who have benefited from the scheme.

"Till now, almost 25 thousand patients have been benefited by the scheme in AIIMS Delhi. This number is low but needs to be increased because people are not aware of the entitlements of the enrolment scheme. And around 5000 cancer patients have also taken advantage of this scheme and got treatment from AIIMS," he added.

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. (ANI)

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