PM likely to announce Ayushman Bharat pilot projects tomorrow

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will announce pilot projects of Ayushman Bharat in select district hospitals on the occasion of Independence Day on Wednesday. The full roll-out of the scheme is expected to be announced from September 25 onwards.

Ayushman Bharat, also refered to as 'Modicare', is the national healthcare policy launched by the Government of India in February this year. The ambitious healthcare policy promises to cover over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families (approximately 50 crore beneficiaries) providing coverage up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation.

Benefits of the scheme are portable across the country and a beneficiary covered under the scheme will be allowed to take cashless benefits from any public/private empanelled hospitals across the country.

The scheme is entitlement based, with the entitlement decided on the basis of deprivation criteria in the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) database. The beneficiaries can avail the facilities in both public as well as empanelled private healthcare centres.