Bhubaneswar: The Centre has intensified scrutiny of claims under the Ayushman Bharat–Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), rejecting ₹133 crore worth of suspicious claims and placing an additional ₹272 crore under investigation, officials said.
As part of the exercise, around 4.63 lakh claims have been returned to states for re-verification, following the detection of irregularities during audits and data analysis.
To curb fraudulent billing and misuse of welfare funds, the government has deployed multi-district flying squads, strengthened real-time monitoring mechanisms, and expanded the use of artificial intelligence–based tools to flag anomalies and high-risk claims. These measures are aimed at improving transparency and ensuring that benefits reach genuine beneficiaries.
Officials said the enhanced oversight is part of a broader effort to clean up the scheme’s implementation ecosystem and deter organised fraud networks. “Public health funds are meant for patient care and financial protection, not for exploitation through false claims,” an official said.
Ayushman Bharat is one of the world’s largest government-funded health insurance programmes, providing coverage of up to ₹5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care. Authorities said monitoring mechanisms will continue to be strengthened to safeguard the integrity of the scheme.
-OdishaAge
