30 crore Ayushman Cards created under Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana

New Delhi [India], January 14 : Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri - Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) has crossed the milestone of 30 crore Ayushman cards on January 12, 2024, the government of India said in a press release.
The flagship scheme being implemented by the National Health Authority (NHA) aims to provide health cover of Rs. 5 lakhs per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization to 12 Crore beneficiary families.
Ayushman card creation is the most fundamental activity under Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY and concerted efforts are being continuously made to ensure that every beneficiary under the scheme has an Ayushman card. As a result of the persistent efforts, the scheme has reached the feat of 30 crore Ayushman cards. More than 16.7 crore Ayushman cards have been created only during the last two financial years.
As of date, during 2023-24, more than 7.5 crore Ayushman cards have been created. This implies that approximately 181 Ayushman cards are created every minute.
Ayushman card creation is included in on-spot services being offered during Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra launched on November 15, 2023, with the intent to ensure saturation of different schemes of the Government of India. This campaign has significantly helped expedite card creation at the grassroot level.
More than 2.43 crore Ayushman cards have been created during the yatra. Further, more than 5.6 crore Ayushman cards (launched on Sep 17, 2023) have been created during the Ayushman Bhava campaign launched by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to achieve saturation of different health schemes.
"NHA has launched the 'Ayushman App' for Ayushman Card creation. The app has a unique feature of self-verification. In simple 4 steps, this feature enables users to create an Ayushman card using an Android mobile phone. Further, any person can help beneficiaries to create an Ayushman card. Thus, the Ayushman App enables Jan Bhagidari in its spirit," the government of India said
The success of this application can be measured by the fact that the app has been downloaded for more than 52 lakh times since its launch on September 13, 2023.
With 4.83 crore Ayushman cards, Uttar Pradesh tops the list of states with the highest number of Ayushman cards created. Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra stand at number two and three positions with 3.78 crore and 2.39 crore Ayushman cards, respectively. 11 states have more than 1 crore Ayushman card holders.
Further, as of date, approximately 14.6 crore Ayushman cards have been created for females.
"The scheme is striving to achieve gender parity along with regional parity and income parity in access to healthcare services with 49 per cent Ayushman Cards issued to female beneficiaries. Also, 48 per cent of treatment provided under the scheme has been availed of by the female; thus, gender equity is part of the core design of the scheme," the press release added.
Today, the Ayushman Card has become a symbol of equity, entitlement and empowerment. It gives an assurance to the poor and deprived families that they will be protected against the double burden of disease and the debilitating impact of catastrophic expenditures incurred during treatment. Underscoring this fact, the government is making all efforts to ensure that all eligible beneficiaries possess an Ayushman Card.
Further, Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY has successfully catered to 6.2 crore hospital admissions worth more than Rs. 79,157 crore. If the beneficiary would have availed of the same treatment on their own outside the ambit of AB PM-JAY, the total cost of the treatment would have gone nearly two times higher, thus saving more than 1.25 lakh crore out-of-pocket expenditure of poor and deprived families.