New Delhi, Sep 22 (IANS) India’s government health insurance scheme Ayushman Bharat Pradhan-Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) completed eight years, with more than 48.51 crore people holding Ayushman cards, and has funded 13.25 crore hospital admissions worth Rs 2.03 lakh crore, an official factsheet said on Tuesday.
The scheme covers about 33 per cent of India’s population and spans a network of over 38,000 empanelled public and private hospitals.
AB PM-JAY, a public health assurance scheme aims to save families from catastrophic medical bills. It provides cashless healthcare services for 1,961 procedures across 27 medical specialties.
In March 2024, the government had also expanded the scheme to include about 37 lakh families of Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs), anganwadi workers, and anganwadi helpers. Currently over 44.81 lakh Ayushman cards have been created for ASHAs/AWWs/AWHs under the scheme.
AB-PMJAY is one scheme under Ayushman Bharat that is promoting universal health coverage. The other schemes that are building India’s public health infrastructure are Ayushman Aarogya Mandirs (AAM), Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission and PM-Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PM-ABHIM).
These four flagship schemes are strengthening India’s public health infrastructure to deliver universal health coverage, the statement noted.
The Government expanded the scheme in September 2024 to include all senior citizens aged 70 years and above, covering about 6 crore senior citizens. Over 1.36 crore senior citizens currently hold an Ayushman Vay Vandana card.
Beneficiary families are identified based on the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) 2011, using defined deprivation and occupational criteria. The scheme also includes families previously covered under the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY).
Ayushman Arogya Mandirs (AAM), the second pillar of Ayushman Bharat, make primary healthcare more accessible to people.
More than 50 crore teleconsultations were conducted, including at the AAMs as of September 17, 2026 and these mandirs recorded a cumulative footfall of over 540 crores as on date.
–IANS
aar/pk
