About Ayushman Bharat 

Ayushman Bharat is an attempt to move from sectoral and segmented approach of health service delivery to a comprehensive need-based health care service. Ayushman Bharat adopts a continuum of care approach, comprising of two interrelated components, which are –

• Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY)
• Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs)

Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana 

• Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY is the largest health assurance scheme in the world which aims at providing a health cover of Rs. 5 lakhs per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization to over 10 crores poor and vulnerable families that form the bottom 40% of the Indian population. 
• The households included are based on the deprivation and occupational criteria of Socio-Economic Caste Census 2011 (SECC 2011) for rural and urban areas respectively. 
• PM-JAY was earlier known as the National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS). It subsumed the then existing Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) and the Senior Citizen Health Insurance Scheme (SCHIS).

Key Features :

• • PM-JAY is the world’s largest health insurance/ assurance scheme fully financed by the government.
  • It provides a cover of Rs. 5 lakhs per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization across public and private empanelled hospitals in India.
  • Over 10.74 crore poor and vulnerable entitled families (approximately 50 crore beneficiaries) are eligible for these benefits.
  • PM-JAY provides cashless access to health care services for the beneficiary at the point of service, that is, the hospital.
  • There is no restriction on the family size, age or gender.
• All pre–existing conditions are covered from day one.
• Benefits of the scheme are portable across the country i.e. a beneficiary can visit any empanelled public or private hospital in India to avail cashless treatment.
• Public hospitals are reimbursed for the healthcare services at par with the private hospitals.

Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs)

• Under this component, 1.5 lakh existing Sub Health Centres (SHC), Primary Health Centres (PHC) and Urban Primary Health Centres (UPHC) to be transformed as Health Wellness Centres by 2022.
• These centres will deliver Comprehensive Primary Health Care that is universal and free to users, with a focus on wellness and the delivery of an expanded range of services closer to the community. 
• HWC are envisaged to deliver expanded range services that go beyond Maternal and child health care services to include care for non -communicable diseases, palliative and rehabilitative care, Oral, Eye and ENT care, mental health and first level care for emergencies and trauma , including free essential drugs and diagnostic services.
• The emphasis of health promotion and prevention is designed to bring focus on keeping people healthy by engaging and empowering individuals and communities to choose healthy behaviours and make changes that reduce the risk of developing chronic diseases and morbidities.

Implementation Strategy

• At the national level to manage, a National Health Authority has been set up. It will be chaired by the Minister of Health & Family Welfare which will enable the decision making at a faster pace, required for smooth implementation of the scheme.
• States/ UTs are advised to implement the scheme by a dedicated entity called State Health Agency (SHA).

Why in News?

The resilience of India’s public health systems particularly in the rural hinterland was reflected through continued operationalization of the Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centers (AB – HWCs) and continued delivery of non-COVID essential health services while also meeting the urgent tasks of prevention and management of COVID-19.

Reference:

1. https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1641512