In 2 years, Ayushman Bharat has very few takers in Gurugram

GURUGRAM: Ayushman Bharat Yojana, the Centre’s flagship health insurance scheme, which was launched in September 2018 has impacted only a small segment of people in Gurugram, data reveals. Of the 3.58 lakh people in the district eligible under the scheme, only 80,000 have issued the ‘golden card’ that assures free treatment at empanelled hospitals.

Over the two years, only 1,900 people have sought treatment at the 22 empanelled private and government hospital in the district. The scheme provides medical coverage of Rs 5 lakh per family per annum. Under the scheme, people from the economically weaker section can avail the healthcare treatment along with three and 15 days of pre and post hospitalisation expenses, respectively. The scheme also covers around 1,400 treatment procedures and OT expenses.

A September 2019 study in Gurugram by the health department revealed that about 5,000 people declined to enroll in the scheme for “unknown reasons”.

TOI reached out to some patients at Sector 10 hospital who said they are not willing to participate in the scheme as empanelled hospitals refuse them benefits.

“The private hospitals do not provide us medical facilities as they were not getting money from the government under the scheme yet,” said Shiv Kumar, a patient at Sector 10 hospital. Another patient pointed out the registration requires tedious paperwork which deters people from signing up. “To get registered, a person has to provide mobile number and Aadhaar card,” said Ram Yadav, who had come for a check-up at the hospital.

Some of the private hospitals in the city confirmed Kumar’s claim. “We have not received pending money for the last one year now for providing services under the scheme. How can we treat people for free if the government do not pay anything to us?” said the manager of a private hospital on condition of anonymity.

When asked about the pending payment towards private hospitals in the districts, Dr MP Singh, nodal officer for Ayushman Bharat Yojana said, “We have already paid Rs 1.70 crore to private hospitals in Gurugram and Rs 30 lakh to government hospitals. We are conducting awareness drive every month in the rural and urban areas. We have been collecting data from various parts of the districts to understand the slow enrolment rate,” said Singh. Meanwhile, the health department has also sent a proposal to empanel seven more hospitals in the scheme while 22 more are in the pipeline.

Source: The Times of India