Lok Sabha Question No. 1978 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-08-02
Subject: Ayushman Bharat -PMJAY
Ministry: HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE
Asked by: Shri Imran Masood

## GOVERNMENTOFINDIA MINISTRYOF HEALTH AND FAMILYWELFARE DEPARTMENTOFHEALTH AND FAMILYWELFARE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1978 TO BE ANSWERED ON 02 ND AUGUST, 2024

## AYUSHMANBHARAT -PMJAY

## 1978. SHRI IMRAN MASOOD:

Will the Minister of HEALTHAND FAMILYWELFARE be pleased to state:

- (a) whether it is true that Ayushman Bharat Cards have not been issued for about 25 crore eligible persons despite completing six and a half years of Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether a large number of ineligible persons have been covered in the list under the said scheme without examining Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) data and if so, the details thereof; and
- (c) whether the Government is aware that a large number of poor people are applying for discretionary grants for treatment provided by the Government to save the lives of their family members as they are not able to avail the benefits under the said scheme and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE (SHRI PRATAPRAO JADHAV)

(a): As on 30.06.2024, more than 34.7 crore Ayushman cards have been created under Ayushman Bharat - Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY). Beneficiaries under the scheme can avail services by directly walking into any of the empanelled hospitals. However, in order to spread awareness about the scheme and empower scheme beneficiaries, the beneficiaries are issued Ayushman card in a mission mode.

(b): Initially, 10.74 crore beneficiary families under AB-PMJAY were identified using select deprivation and occupational criteria across rural and urban areas respectively from

Socio-economic Caste Census (SECC) of 2011. In January 2022, the beneficiary base was revised to 12.34 crore families constituting the bottom 40% of India ' s population. Further, flexibility was provided to the States to use other digitized databases of similar socio-economic status for identification of beneficiaries under AB-PMJAY. Accordingly, States/UTs have provided Aadhaar-seeded databases of beneficiary families with similar socio-economic profile for verification under the scheme. This step has ensured that eligible beneficiaries can avail benefits under the scheme.

- (c): A total number of 1717 beneficiaries have taken treatment under Health Minister ' s Discretionary Grant (HMDG) amounting to Rs. 33.3 crore using NHA ' s IT platform for which the year-wise details are as follows:

| Financial Year   |   Total Count of Beneficiaries | Total Claim amount (in Rupees)   |
|------------------|--------------------------------|----------------------------------|
| 2021-22          |                            167 | 3,67,92,628                      |
| 2022-23          |                            878 | 15,74,90,189                     |
| 2023-24          |                            672 | 13,93,55,670                     |

Under the Health Minister ' s Discretionary Grant (HMDG), financial assistance of up to Rs. 1.25 lakh is provided to poor patients to cover a part of the expenditure on hospitalization/ treatment in Government Hospitals for life-threatening diseases, in cases where free medical facilities are not available. Only those having annual family income of up to Rs. 1.25 Lakh are eligible for financial assistance under the scheme. Details of funds released and number of patients benefitted during the last three years under HMDG are as under:

| Year    |   Funds released (in crore of Rupees) |   Beneficiaries |
|---------|---------------------------------------|-----------------|
| 2021-22 |                                  1.16 |              98 |
| 2022-23 |                                  0.31 |              29 |
| 2023-24 |                                  0.64 |              55 |

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