“₹1 Lakh Crore Disbursed for 7.4 Crore Patients Under PMJAY”

New Delhi : The Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) has authorized hospital admissions worth ₹1 lakh crore for 7.37 crore patients, according to the latest data compiled by the Ministry of Health. The scheme, which provides free healthcare services, has been implemented across 33 states and Union Territories.

Madhya Pradesh leads in the creation of Ayushman cards under the PMJAY scheme, with 402.5 lakh cards issued, followed by Maharashtra (280 lakh), Karnataka (171.5 lakh), Jammu and Kashmir (85.9 lakh), Telangana (82.5 lakh), Tamil Nadu (73.6 lakh), and Meghalaya (19.76 lakh). Eligible beneficiaries can create their Ayushman card at any time throughout the year, either through the Ayushman App or by visiting the nearest Common Service Centre (CSC) or an empanelled hospital.

AB-PMJAY aims to provide health coverage of ₹5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization to approximately 55 crore beneficiaries, representing 12.34 crore families, which constitute the bottom 40% of India’s population. The scheme offers cashless and paperless healthcare services across more than 29,000 empanelled hospitals nationwide.

The coverage includes all costs associated with hospitalization, such as treatment, medicines, diagnostic services, physician and surgeon fees, room charges, and intensive care unit (ICU) charges. The most commonly availed treatments under the scheme include general medicine, infectious diseases, general surgery, medical oncology, ophthalmology, and orthopaedics.

The Health Ministry’s latest national master of the Health Benefit Package (HBP) offers cashless services for 1,949 procedures across 27 medical specialties, including General Medicine, Surgery, Cardiology, and Oncology. Common procedures availed by beneficiaries include hemodialysis, Covid-19 screening, and treatment for acute febrile illness.

In the Union Budget for 2024-25, the allocation for the PMJAY scheme was increased by 10% to ₹7,300 crore, up from the revised estimate of ₹6,800 crore in 2023-24. The overall allocation to the Health Ministry was raised by 12.96% to ₹90,958.63 crore. Additionally, the government announced customs duty exemptions on three cancer treatment drugs—Trastuzumab Deruxtecan, Osimertinib, and Durvalumab—to reduce treatment costs for cancer patients.