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The district hospital in Poonch, Jammu & Kashmir, has been equipped with facilities to offer free healthcare services to patients under Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY).
Speaking to ANI, Dr Nusrat Bhatti, Medical Superintendent of the hospital, highlighted the impact of the scheme: "District Hospital Poonch is providing the best facilities and is providing free services under the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana. We are providing free-of-cost dialysis services to the patients. Medicines are being provided free of cost to the patients." "Our CT scan services are availaible round the clock, we are also providing free of cost medicine to the patients", she added. Nearly 36 crore beneficiaries have been verified under AB-PMJAY as of November 30, 2024. The Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Prataprao Jadhav stated this in a written reply in Lok Sabha. Further, 8.39 crore hospital admissions worth over Rs 1.16 lakh crore have been authorised under the scheme. There has been significant saving with regard to out-of-pocket expenditure for beneficiaries related to hospitalisation costs. AB-PMJAY is a flagship scheme of the Central government that provides health cover of Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation to approximately 55 crore beneficiaries corresponding to 12.37 crore families constituting economically vulnerable bottom 40 per cent of India's population. Many of the states/UTs implementing the scheme have converged their respective State Health Insurance Schemes with AB-PMJAY, thereby increasing the population covered under government-funded medical insurance to include more than 18 crore families. In March 2024, 37 lakh families of ASHA, Anganwadi Workers, and Anganwadi Helpers were also included in the scheme. Further, on October 29, 2024, the government expanded AB-PMJAY to provide free treatment benefits of up to Rs 5 lakh per year to all senior citizens aged 70 years and above, irrespective of their socio-economic status. The estimated number of beneficiary families aged 70 years and above across the country is 4.5 crore corresponding to the 6 crore individuals under the scheme. (ANI)
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