Bhubaneswar: The health assurance scheme of Indian government, AB-PMJAY, has been expanded to provide health related benefits to the elderlies above the age group pf 70 has got the registration of more than five lakh senior citizens above 70 for Ayushman cards since the time it has got inflated.
The Ayushman Vaya Vandana Card, approved by the Union Cabinet, bestows health facilities to the elderlies above 70 irrespective of their income, was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month.
Moreover, in the current AB PM-JAY scheme focusing on family, the elderly will have a separate cover of Rs 5 lakh per year.
as per the official reports by the National Health Authority there are 5,12,598 requests for enrollment have been received under the yojana out of which 4,64,541 were approved and rest of the 47,916 applications are pending whereas around 141 applications are rejected.
The most number of applications for enrollment in the scheme are from Madhya Pradesh (1.66 lakh) followed by Kerala (1.28 lakh), Uttar Pradesh (69,044), and Gujarat (25,491).
“We have shared IEC (information, education, communication) material with all states. As word spreads, we are confident more and more senior citizens will become involved,” an official was quoted as saying.
This scheme is going to be immensely beneficial for the elderlies as factually the population of senior citizens in the country are going to become double as compared to the current statistics. The increase in the population of the elderlies will even more ask for the demand for geriatric care. The scheme is set to potentially benefit around 6 crore individuals across 4.5 crore families.
The eligible beneficiaries can apply for the Ayushman Bharat Senior Citizen Scheme through www.beneficiary.nha.gov.in or by using the Ayushman app.
AB PM-JAY, the largest publicly funded health assurance scheme, all over the world was launched in 2018 to provide health benefits to about 55 crore people, corresponding to 12.34 crore poor and vulnerable families.
-OdishaAge
