Why in News?

• Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh have emerged as the top performing States with free secondary and tertiary treatment under the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana.

About the News:

• The above-mentioned states have emerged as the top performing States with free secondary and tertiary treatment worth nearly ₹7,901 crore availed under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY), the flagship health assurance scheme of the Government in just over a year.
• The scheme crossed the 50-lakh treatment mark this week with secondary and tertiary level treatments carried out across 32 States and Union Territories.Half-a-crore hospital treatments have been provided and there are 9 hospital admissions every minute across India.

Tertiary care-occupies a Lion share:

• More than 60% of the amount spent has been on tertiary care. Cardiology, Orthopaedics, Radiation Oncology, Cardio-thoracic and Vascular Surgery, and Urology have emerged as the top tertiary specialities.

About Ayushman Bharat:

• Launched as recommended by the National Health Policy 2017, to achieve the vision of Universal Health Coverage.
• The scheme has been meant to focus on reducing catastrophic out-of-pocket health expenditure, improving access to quality health care and meeting the unmet need of the population for hospitalisation care, and achieving the vision of Universal Health Coverage.
• There are two flagship initiatives under Ayushman Bharat:

1.Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY):

• The National Health Policy, 2017 has envisioned Health and Wellness Centres as the foundation of India’s health system. Under this 1.5 lakh centres will bring health care system closer to the homes of people.
• These centres will provide comprehensive health care, including for non-communicable diseases and maternal and child health services.
• These centres will also provide free essential drugs and diagnostic services.
• Contribution of private sector through CSR and philanthropic institutions in adopting these centres is also envisaged.

2.National Health Protection Scheme:

• The second flagship programme under Ayushman Bharat is National Health Protection Scheme, which 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.
• This will be the world’s largest government funded health care programme. Adequate funds will be provided for smooth implementation of this programme.