New Delhi, July 29 (IANS) More than 1.06 lakh claims have been settled under the Ayushman Vay Vandana Scheme, said Prataprao Jadhav, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, on Tuesday.

In October 2024, the scope of the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) was expanded to include all senior citizens aged 70 years and above, irrespective of their socio-economic status.

Under this initiative, beneficiaries can receive free treatment benefits of up to Rs 5 lakh per year through Ayushman Vay Vandana cards.

“As on date, over 1.06 lakh claims have been settled under Ayushman Vay Vandana scheme since its launch,” Jadhav said.

“A total of 75.41 lakh Ayushman Vay Vandana cards have been created, out of which 32.3 lakh cards have been created for female beneficiaries,” he added.

In addition, the portability feature of AB-PMJAY allows eligible beneficiaries — including those under the Vay Vandana scheme — to access healthcare services at any of the 31,466 empanelled hospitals across the country, regardless of their place of residence.

“This ensures seamless and equitable access to quality healthcare for the elderly population nationwide,” the MoS said.

“Vay Vandana scheme beneficiaries can also avail treatment through a vast network of 14,194 private healthcare providers empanelled under the scheme,” he noted.

To ensure quality and consistency in service delivery, the National Health Authority (NHA) issued comprehensive Hospital Empanelment and Management (HEM) Guidelines for the empanelment of hospitals under the AB-PMJAY.

The AB-PMJAY has emerged as one of the world’s largest publicly funded health insurance schemes. It has enabled 8.59 crore hospital admissions worth Rs 1,19,858 crore, ensuring access to secondary and tertiary care without pushing families into debt, according to an official statement by the government.

Meanwhile, Jadhav also shared the steps taken to strengthen the district-level health system, such as the Pradhan Mantri-Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PM-ABHIM).

“PM-ABHIM has been launched with an outlay of Rs 64,180 crore over five years (FY 2021-26). The mission focuses on strengthening the capacities of health systems across all levels — primary, secondary, and tertiary care — to ensure effective response to current and future pandemics and disasters,” the Minister said.

Under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) components of PM-ABHIM, provision has been made to provide support for establishment of 602 Critical Care Hospital Blocks (CCBs) 50/100 bedded in all the districts with population of more than 5 lakhs during the scheme period i.e. from FY 2021-22 to FY 2025-26 including the ICU beds, he noted.

–IANS

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