New Delhi: Till November 25, approximately 14 lakh Ayushman Vay Vandana cards have been created for senior citizen beneficiaries aged 70 years and above under the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), the government informed Parliament Friday.
The estimated number of families with beneficiaries aged 70 years and above is 4.5 crore, which corresponds to the six crore individuals under the scheme, Minister of State for Health Prataprao Jadhav said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.
Till November 25, approximately 14 lakh Ayushman Vay Vandana cards have been created for senior citizen beneficiaries aged 70 years and above under the scheme, he added.
Besides, around 35.89 crore Ayushman cards were created under the scheme as October 31 since its launch in 2018, Jadhav said.
Under AB-PMJAY, a three-tier grievance redressal system at the district, state and national levels has been created to resolve the issues faced by beneficiaries in utilising healthcare.
The beneficiaries can file their grievance using different mediums, including the web-based Centralised Grievance Redressal Management System (CGRMS) portal, central and state call centres, e-mails, letters to the state health agencies etc., the minister pointed out.
Based on the nature of the grievance, necessary action for resolution is taken, including coordination with hospitals and providing support to the beneficiaries in availing treatment under the scheme, he said.
As on November 25, a total of 5,565 grievances were received on the CGRMS portal and 98 per cent of those have been resolved through efforts made at the district, state and national levels, Jadhav said.
In the latest national master of the Health Benefit Package (HBP), the scheme provides cashless healthcare services related to 1,961 procedures across 27 medical specialties, including general medicine, general surgery, orthopaedics, cardiology, oncology etc., which can be availed by different age groups, Jadhav said in a written reply to a separate question.
Among these, treatment services like hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, acute ischemic stroke, accelerated hypertension, total hip replacement, total knee replacement, PTCA, inclusive of diagnostic angiogram, single-chamber permanent pacemaker implantation, double-chamber permanent pacemaker implantation etc. are available to eligible senior citizens as well.
Further, the states have been provided with the flexibility to further customise the health benefit packages to suit the local context, the minister said.
A total expenditure of Rs 3,437 crore is estimated, out of which a central share of Rs 2,165 crore is likely to be incurred during financial years 2024-25 and 2025-26, he added.
As on October 31, a total of 29,870 hospitals were empanelled, including 13,173 private facilities.
Responding to another question, Jadhav said Odisha, West Bengal and Delhi are not implementing the scheme.
The Centre is pursuing with these states and Delhi to join the scheme so that the eligible beneficiaries are not deprived of healthcare benefits, the minister added.
In addition to this, the Model Code of Conduct was in force in Maharashtra, Jharkhand and certain districts in other states where bypolls were held, due to which no new enrolment of eligible senior citizens under the scheme was done during this period.
However, as the Model Code of Conduct has now been lifted, the enrolment of eligible senior citizens has started again, Jadhav said.
PTI