- Abhijit Nath, NET Correspondent, Tripura
Agartala, September 23, 2022 : Celebrating the fourth year anniversary of Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana on Friday, union Health and Family Welfare minister – Dr Mansukh Mandaviya and Union Minister of State (MoS) – Dr Bharti Praveen Pawar interacted with Tripura’s son Tushar Saha who is a beneficiary of PMJAY along with beneficiaries from different states of India virtually.
Both the union ministers – Dr Mandaviya and Dr Pawar spoke to Tushar Saha, a beneficiary of Tripura’s Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana. Tushar is a student of Bardowali Class XII School. Last year, he started having sudden pain in the right side of abdomen. Gradually the pain moved to his legs and his lower body became numb. He had a tumor on his spinal cord and needed an operation. Tushar’s father does a small private job. He could not afford the medical expenses. Then Tushar’s operation was done at Medica Super Specialty Hospital in Kolkata through Ayushman Card. He is now fully recovered. He and his family expressed heartfelt gratitude to the Prime Minister, union minister and MoS of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Chief Minister. His father said that it would not have been possible for them to treat Tushar without the help of Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana.
During the virtual interaction at the Civil Secretariat on Friday, Tripura’s Health Secretary Dr Debasish Bose, Chief Executive Officer of Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana Dr Suvendu Debbarma were present.
As of August 2022, around 12 lakh 90 thousand beneficiaries have received Ayushman cards in the state, which is 35 percent more than the national average. So far more than 1 lakh 65 thousand beneficiaries have received free medical services under this scheme. A total of 930 beneficiaries have availed medical services in different hospitals outside the state under this scheme.
Scheme Ayushman-cards are issued from all registered hospitals or common service centers and UTIITSL centers in the state. For this, the selected families of the state should be issued Ayushman-Card by showing identity card, Prime Minister’s letter, ration card, Aadhaar card and previously active RSBY card. After the birth of the child, the Ayushman-card of the project should be issued by showing the birth certificate and if a new member joins the family through marriage, the marriage certificate should be issued. A separate Ayushman-Card is issued for each member. Each enrolled hospital has ‘Arogya Mitra’ who looks after the technical aspects of the beneficiary’s hospitalization, leave, Ayushman-card issue etc. Aarogya Mitra is to be contacted during hospitalization and holidays. There is no limit on the number of family members, gender or age in this scheme. All families whose names are included in Tripura state as per Socio Economic and Caste Census and among RSBY card holders whose cards were issued in 2016 or later, will get the benefit of this scheme.
Notably, the central government on Friday extended its heartiest congratulations to all the beneficiaries of Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana on its fourth year anniversary. On September 23, 2018, the Government of India launched the nationwide Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana. This scheme is initiated for the welfare of financially weaker sections of people. Cashless assistance of up to Rs.5 lakh per family per year is available for treatment of eligible family members under this scheme. About 14 lakh beneficiaries of the state are included in ‘Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana’ (as per field survey).
