Ayushman Bharat programme

• 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.