With four States including Delhi, West Bengal, Odisha and Telangana not yet implementing the Ayushman Bharat Yojana, the Government on Tuesday said in the Rajya Sabha this has deprived the poor from deriving benefits of comprehensive healthcare facilities.
Giving this information, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said he had personally talked to the Chief Ministers of the concerned States and urged them to implement the scheme for the larger good of the needy. He also clarified that the Central Government can only "humbly" request the State Governments when some MPs said if any action can be taken against States like Delhi.
"Our Government has requested these States and I have written and urged the Chief Ministers and Health Ministers of these States, after meeting them personally, to implement the scheme, as the poor in States like Delhi are bereft of benefits of the healthcare Ayushman scheme.
"We will keep on insisting. We again appeal to these four States to join the scheme in the larger interest of healthcare. This will also help reduce their burden as the Central Government shares the burden with State Governments in the scheme," he said.
Fielding questions of this issue during the Question Hour, the Minister also said there was no such proposal at present to implement the scheme through the municipal bodies. In fact, the Govt cannot bypass the State Government, he said adding "We can check whether it is technically possible," he said.
While the Aam Aadmi Party has its Government in Delhi, the BJP is in power in the MCD in Delhi. The three other States which have not yet joined the scheme are also non-BJP ruled States.
The Minister also informed the House that the Government is also using technology, including artificial intelligence, to detect fraud or negligence in various hospitals.
Vardhan said as per the 2011 list, there are a total of 10.74 crore families who are potential beneficiaries under the Ayushman Bharat scheme and the allocation of funds has been done on the basis of number of beneficiaries in each state. At present, more than 80 lakh people have availed of the benefit.
He also assured the members that the Govt will not compromise the interest of patients while handing over district Govt hospitals to private medical colleges through public-private partnership mode. Such experiments have successfully been implemented in the last 25 years and even government think-tank Niti Aayog has taken note of this and come out with draft guidelines, he said during the Question Hour.
Responding to a separate query on dialysis for poor patients, the Minister said dialysis services are provided at district hospitals for management of chronic kidney diseases under the Pradhan Mantri National Dialysis Programme (PMNDP).ialysis services under PMNDP are provided free of cost to Below Poverty Line (BPL) patients.