By Shalini Bhardwaj
New Delhi [India], August 25 (ANI): With an aim to bring greater integrity and uniformity in the beneficiary cards” issued under the Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY), Ayushman cards will be co-branded with state logos and names of state-specific health schemes, informed the Health Ministry on Wednesday.
The card will be bilingual i.e. English and the local language will be included in the cards. “The name of scheme will include State scheme name along with AB PM-JAY. Further, Co-branding was therefore envisaged with the purpose of maintaining uniformity across the PM-JAY ecosystem while allowing for State specific customizations,” said the Health Ministry in a statement.
The National Health Authority (NHA) decided to bring “greater integrity and uniformity in the beneficiary cards” issued under the scheme by re-christening them under the common name ‘Ayushman cards‘
The majority of the states and Union territories have adopted the guidelines on co-branding. 31 out of 33 states have adopted; 29 were already adopting co-branding guidelines while Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan have concurred recently. Final concurrence is awaited from Tamil Nadu and Telangana.
The authority will provide full financial support for the issuance of co-branded cards to beneficiaries under the Central scheme as well as the state scheme, the health ministry said.
Ayushman Bharat PM – JAY provides health coverage of up to Rs. 5 Lakh per eligible beneficiary family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalizations corresponding to 1,949 treatment procedures across 27 specialities. The 10.74 crore beneficiary families under AB PM-JAY have been selected from the Socio-economic Caste Census (SECC) of 2011.
As per the Health Ministry, approximately 18.81 Crore individuals have been verified under the scheme, of which 14.12 Crore have been issued Ayushman cards as of August 17, 2022, (ANI)
