Only 2,132 people have availed or are now undergoing treatment for COVID-19 under Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), India’s cashless/paperless healthcare access service for the poor and vulnerable families, at a time when India has over a lakh cases, according to figures released AB-PMJAY on Wednesday.
Also read | Fall in key treatment categories
Testing for and treatment of COVID-19 is free under AB-PMJAY for all its 53 crore beneficiaries. It is the flagship scheme of the Union government that provides a health cover of up to Rs. 5 lakh a family a year, for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation, and on Wednesday, it crossed a crore treatment (for various listed diseases, including COVID-19), worth approximately Rs. 13,412 crore offered. The programme was launched in September, 2018.
“The National Health Authority (NHA), mandated to implement AB PM-JAY and for COVID-19, has focused on how to get the private sector more actively involved in offering treatment for both COVID-19 as well as non-COVID-19 health conditions,’’ said AB-PMJAY.
It added that to increase t