The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is pulling out all stops to make the launching ceremony of the Atal Ayushman Yojana (AAY), the universal health insurance scheme, on December 25 to mark the birth anniversary of the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee-a grand affair. A meeting was held at the Mahanagar office of the party on Saturday to take stock of the preparation for the ceremony. It is learnt that the party leaders have been asked to ensure that a crowd of at least 20,000 is present when the Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat would officially launch the scheme at Bannu ground on December 25.
Notably, on the day the Ayushman Bharat Yojana ( ABY) which covered 5.37 lakh families of Uttarakhand on the basis of economic survey done in 2011 was inaugurated, CM had declared that the State Government would extend the scheme to all 23 lakh families living in Uttarakhand under Atal Ayuhman Yojana.
The nodal officer of the scheme Dr Saroj Naithani said that the State Health and Family Welfare Department has done all the necessary spadework for the launch of the universal health insurance scheme in the State.
The State Health Department has selected families on the basis of national food security survey.
There are about 23 lakh families in Uttarakhand out of which 5.37 families are already covered under ABY. The remaining families which include the families of the State Government employees would be brought under AAY.
A total of 30 private hospitals have so far been included under the scheme while the process to empanel 19 hospitals is under progress.
The State health agency- set up to implement the scheme-has appointed Arogya Mitras in all the empanelled hospitals for assisting the patients on treatment-related matters under the scheme.
For the treatment under the scheme in any empanelled hospital, the patients would have to show their ration card and AADHAR card to the hospital authorities.
The scheme is being run on a trust mode and the State health agency has selected a Hyderabad-based company- Family Health Planning Limited-for technical help. Under ABY, the Union Government is providing 90 percent of the budget for the scheme while the State Government would contribute the remaining 10 percent while in the AAY, the State Government would bear the entire cost of the scheme.