With the ceremonial launch of Atal Ayushman Uttarakhand (AAYU) Yojana on 94th birth anniversary of the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Tuesday, Uttarakhand has become the first State in the country where every resident family has come under the umbrella of a health cover amounting to Rs 5 lakh annually.
Addressing a mammoth gathering after launching the scheme, chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said that it is highly appropriate that the scheme is being named after the former PM Vajpayee and is being launched on his birthday as he is adored as the creator of Uttarakhand.
Saying that providing better health care facilities in a state like Uttarakhand is a major challenge, CM said that inspired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he had decided on the day Ayushman Bharat Yojana was launched that the benefit of the scheme should be extended to every family of the state.
“The objective of the scheme is that no one should be left out for dearth of money as far as the best treatment is concerned. Under the scheme, a cashless facility is available and in view of practical problems, it is being run on a trust mode instead of involving insurance company in it,’’ he said.
Amid loud applause, the CM said, “ It is observed that many people are forced to sell their land or jewellery to avail good treatment but following the launch of the scheme, this would be a thing of the past.’’
Dwelling on the AAYU, he said that all 23 lakh families residing in the state would be covered under the scheme which would provide treatment of 1350 diseases in 99 government and 66 private hospitals empanelled under it. CM further said that one of the unique features of the scheme is incentive granted to the government hospitals.
He opined that the scheme would encourage many private institutes to open hospitals in the mountainous areas. Rawat declared that the soon the children and the elderly would also be provided benefit of free OPD.
He declared that from January 26, all the government employees and registered journalists would also be brought under the ambit of the scheme.
Congratulating CM, Haridwar MP, Ramesh Pokhariyal ‘Nishank’ said that the day would be written in golden words in the history of the state.
The state BJP president Ajay Bhatt also congratulated the state government for the launch of the scheme. He also narrated many memoirs of the former PM Vajpayee on the occasion.
The CM and other guests launched mobile app and website of the AAYU scheme on the occasion. Memoranda of Understanding ( MoU) with many private hospitals were also inked in the presence of the CM.
The programme was attended among others by Tehri MP, Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah, cabinet minister Prakash Pant, minister of state for higher education Dhan Singh Rawat, MLAs- Vinod Chamoli, Harbans Kapur, Ganesh Joshi, Umesh Sharma Kau, Khajan Das, Mahendra Bhatt, Shahdev Singh Pundeer, Munni Devi Shah, Pranav Singh Champion-, chairman of state health authority D K Kotia, chief secretary Utpal Kumar Singh and director general ( DG) of police Anil Kumar Raturi.