Ayushman Bharat is one among the world's largest government healthcare programme and Jammu and Kashmir has not remained aloof from its benefits since its launch.Ayushman Bharat or Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) since its start has created around 11.45 lakh ‘Golden Cards’ covering around 37 per cent of the eligible population.Health being a fundamental human right is a significant indicator of all humans to live a better quality life and to achieve this social goal J&K is also taking a lead. PMJAY was launched on December 1, 2018 across the J&K as it guarantees provision of health insurance cover to the extent of Rs 500,000 on a family floater and cashless basis through an established network of 160 health care providers to the 613648 AB-PMJAY Beneficiary Family Units across the Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh.To implement the scheme at the grass root level, 160 public and private hospitals have been empanelled in J&K with more than 75000 hospitalizations benefitted from the scheme with Pre-Authorization amounting to Rs 42.63 crore, out of which Rs. 32.80 crore have already been paid to the hospitals by the insurance company.Jammu and Kashmir, with a lot of demographical disadvantages and many inaccessible areas devised innovative practices to reach to the last mile.
Some of them are elucidated below:
State Health Agency (SHA) J&K through District Magistrates reached every single beneficiary family through massive Information Education & Communication Campaign and succeeded in generating at least one golden record in 57% of families within first six months of the implementation of the scheme.
Notable efforts include
Equipping and strengthening more than 1800 CSCs: SHA trained and handheld Common Service Centers and also provided hardware support to these centers.Verification of beneficiaries on mission mode: Chief Secretary on daily basis set targets for each district and monitored the progress on daily basis. The verification process was taken on a mission mode. Inspite of snowfall, inclement weather, non-availability of power supply, the registration process was carried out with full zeal and enthusiasm.Payment of Rs. 15 per beneficiary by the State to CSCs: State Government paid Rs. 15 per beneficiary to the CSCs thereby encouraging the eligible beneficiaries for registration.Ayushman Bharat Divas: 4th November 2018 was celebrated as Ayushman Bharat Divas across the Jammu and Kashmir as special programmes were conducted on this particular day across the UT.Ayushman Bharat Rath: Ayushman Bharat Rath was launched in each district of the erstwhile State from 5th November 2018 onwards. The Rath was loaded with IEC material and passed through all tehsils and blocks of each district.Distribution of PM Letters: In district Leh and Kargil, due to blockade of national highway, airways were used to deliver the PM letters to the district headquarters.JK Bank Initiative: Nearly 6 lakh pamphlets were got printed through JK Bank under their CSR programme and the pamphlets were distributed in all the 22 districts of the erstwhile State by utilizing the services of field health functionaries.
To reach the target population, campaigns in terms of installation of hoardings at empanelled hospitals and all prominent places of Jammu & Srinagar cities and display of banners/posters inside empanelled hospitals by Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company with the support of SHA. Besides newspaper advertisements, regular press releases, FM Radios and TV ads, Bulk SMS to the beneficiaries.Camps through ASHAs and other ground level workers were held to disseminate the word about the benefits of the scheme with active involvement of religious institutions to generate awareness.PMJAJ started to flying colors across J&K as more than 10 lakh Golden Cards were generated within the first 90 days of the launch of PMJAY in the erstwhile State.J&K has issued E-cards covering 57% of families in the erstwhile State in less than six months which is highest by any State or UT in the Country.J&K has received SKOCH order-of-merit award in the month of February 2019 for innovative implementation of Ayushman Bharat.More than 95% of the claims have been paid in time as per the defined timelines as BAGIC team has been very proactive in claim settlement especially with respect to resolution of queries.Pro-active action being taken by State Health Agency along with the Insurance Company on identifying probable incidents of misuse or abuse by a hospital.J&K has been appreciated by National Health Authority for noteworthy accomplishments with Home Minister appreciated on the floor of the Parliament efforts put in by SHA, J&K.SHA, J&K received 1st prize in Learning and Space Sharing event of Arogya Manthan organized by NHA on 30th September and 1st October 2019.