22 lakh ABPM-JAY Sehat cards issued in J&K over 2 months; 22,000 get free treatment

The Jammu and Kashmir administration has issued Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (ABPM-JAY) Sehat golden cards to 22 lakh beneficiaries since the launch of the scheme in the union territory two months ago, officials said.

As many as 22,000 patients have got free medical treatment under the scheme so far, they said.

"Under the ABPM-JAY Sehat, in the first two months, 22.05 lakh golden cards have been issued (on a fast track basis). These are in addition to 13.28 lakh golden cards issued under ABPM-JAY", Financial Commissioner, Health and Medical Education Department, Atal Dulloo said on Sunday.

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About 70 per cent of eligible families have been registered so far under the PM-JAY scheme, he added.

Dulloo said, “ABPM-JAY Sehat scheme is one of the most ambitious schemes of the government of Jammu and Kashmir. It is heartening to see residents availing free and cashless benefits from reputed empanelled hospitals of Jammu and Kashmir.”

The scheme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in J-K on December 26.

The Sehat scheme in convergence with PM-JAY aims to provide universal health insurance coverage of Rs 5 lakh per family on a floater basis. ABPM-JAY Sehat has the same benefits as available under PM-JAY, Dulloo said.

The scheme covers all residents of Jammu and Kashmir, including employees and pensioners of the UT administration and their families, he said.

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The scheme covers up to three days of pre-hospitalisation and 15 days post-hospitalisation expenses, such as diagnostics and medicines, of a beneficiary patient, Dulloo said.

"Benefits of the scheme are portable across the country i.e. a beneficiary can visit any of the more than 24,000 empanelled public or private hospitals (including 229 hospitals empanelled within union territory of Jammu and Kashmir) under ABPM-JAY in India to avail cashless treatment," he said.

"A network of more than 5,000 CSCs are up and working in J-K. About 30 lakh residents of UT of J-K have already registered under the scheme. Thus, about 56 percent of the families eligible under ABPM-JAY Sehat have been registered," Dulloo said.

“So far more than 450 patients have already availed benefits in empanelled hospitals from outside J-K using portability feature of ABPM-JAY scheme,” he said.

The ambitious health insurance scheme is going to be the game-changer as far as healthcare services are concerned, he said.