- The Ayushman Bharat programme addresses health holistically, in primary, secondary and tertiary care systems.
- It covers both prevention and health promotion.
- Two flagship programmes under Ayushman Bharat programme are Health and Wellness Centre and National Health Protection Scheme
Health and Wellness Centre:
- The National Health Policy, 2017 has envisioned Health and Wellness Centres as the foundation of India’s health system.
Objective:
- Under this 1.5 lakh health care centres will be established.
Budget:
- The Budget has allocated Rs.1200 crore for this flagship programme.
Key features of Health and Wellness Centre:
Comprehensive health care:
- These centres will provide comprehensive health care, including for non-communicable diseases and maternal and child health services.
Free health services:
- These centres will also provide free essential drugs and diagnostic services.
Contribution of private sector:
- Contribution of private sector through CSR and philanthropic institutions in adopting these centres is also envisaged.
National Health Protection Scheme:
- The second flagship programme under Ayushman Bharat is National Health Protection Scheme.
Objective:
- It will cover over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families (approximately 50 crore beneficiaries) providing coverage upto 5 lakh rupees per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization.
Budget:
- The government has not yet made any allocations for the scheme.
Key features National Health Protection Scheme:
World’s largest government funded health programme:
- This will be the world’s largest government funded health care programme.
Awareness of health insurance:
- The scheme would create tremendous awareness of health insurance, the same way Jan Dhan did for bank accounts.
Enhance productivity:
- It will also ensure enhanced productivity, well being and avert wage loss and impoverishment.
Generate jobs:
- Thes scheme will also generate lakhs of jobs, particularly for women.
Goal of Universal Health Coverage:
- The Government is steadily but surely progressing towards the goal of Universal Health Coverage.
Higher life expectancy:
- A higher health insurance cover means a higher life expectancy.
