india

Updated: Oct 14, 2019 07:08 IST

This Diwali, all members of parliament of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party will be seen holding discussions with beneficiaries of Ayushman Bharat, a key scheme of the Modi government that aims to make healthcare affordable to all.

According to a letter written by BJP Parliamentary Secretary Balasubrahmanyam Kamarsu to all party MPs and accessed by HT, the instruction for holding such meetings has come from party chief and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

In the letter, Kamarsu says that the party chief has asked MPs to meet the beneficiaries of the scheme on the eve of Diwali.

He has asked the MPs to hear from these people their experiences of the scheme. According to the BJP parliamentary secretary, Shah has also directed the MPs to share the details and pictures of their meetings on social media, the NaMo app and also with the BJP’s parliamentary office.

Shah has also written a letter to MPs in this regard.

The Modi government had launched Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan ArogyaYojana (PMJAY) on 23 September 2018. PMJAY is a centrally sponsored scheme. It is entirely funded by the Government and the funding is shared between the Centre and state governments.

PMJAY provides health coverage up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary hospitalization to around 10.74 crore poor and vulnerable families (approx. 50 crore beneficiaries). This scheme covers poor and vulnerable families based on deprivation and occupational criteria.

It provides cashless and paperless access to services for the beneficiary at the point of service in any (both public and private) empanelled hospitals across India. In other words, a beneficiary from one State can avail benefits from an empanelled Hospital anywhere in the Country.

AB-PMJAY provides cashless treatment to the entitled beneficiaries at empanelled hospitals. No money is released to the beneficiary and payment is made directly to the hospitals by State Health Agency (SHA) in case of Trust Mode, and by the Insurance company in case of insurance mode.