GS-3
AYUSHMAN BHARAT PROGRAMME
- The Ayushman Bharat programme was launched in 2018 to address health issues at all levels – primary, secondary, and tertiary.
It has two components:
- Pradhan Mantri Jan ArogyaYojana (PM-JAY), earlier known as the National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS)
- Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs)
- Ayushman Bharat is an integrated approach comprising health insurance and primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare.
- The HWCs are aimed at improving access to cheap and quality healthcare services at the primary level.
- PM-JAY will cover the financial protection for availing healthcare services at the secondary and tertiary levels.
- Ayushman Bharat is the largest government-funded healthcare programme in the world with over 50 crore beneficiaries. It has been dubbed ‘Modicare’.
Need for Ayushman Bharat
- The 71st round of the National Sample Survey Office revealed many grim numbers about the country’s healthcare system.
- About 86% of rural households and 82% of urban households do not have access to healthcare insurance.
- Over 17% of the country’s population spend a minimum of 1/10th of their household budgets on availing health services.
- Unexpected and serious healthcare problems often lead families to debt.
- Over 19% and over 24% of the urban and rural households respectively meet their healthcare financial needs through borrowings.
- To address these grave concerns, the government, under the National Health Policy 2017, launched the Ayushman Bharat programme along with its two sub-missions, PMJAY and HWCs.
SOURCE:PIB