Vimlesh brought her husband to Delhi. Vimlesh brought her husband to Delhi.

With only Rs 3,000 remaining in her purse last week, Vimlesh (40) had lost hope. The sum was not enough to fund her husband’s spinal surgery at Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital, where he was rushed from UP’s Moradabad on October 1. After a few days in the emergency ward, Vimlesh and her husband Pappu Singh (45) were informed by officials that they were entitled to the recently launched Ayushman Bharat — Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY).

On Monday, a laminectomy (in which space is created by removing the back part of a vertebra that covers the spinal canal) was performed on Singh under PMJAY — the first such surgery in Delhi since the scheme was launched by the Prime Minister on September 23 in Jharkhand.

While the Delhi government has not agreed to be a part of the scheme, hospitals in the capital that are funded by the Centre will provide healthcare under PMJAY. “My husband and I work in a quilt factory in Moradabad and earn Rs 8,000 a month… on September 26, he met with an accident and broke his back. He can’t walk or sit. After he didn’t get proper treatment in Moradabad, I brought him to Delhi,” she said.

Vimlesh recalled that last week, an ‘Ayushman Mitra’ told her about the scheme and its benefits. “He said treatment will not cost a rupee. I just had to submit his Aadhaar and ration cards, and one unit of blood,” she said.

An ‘Ayushman Mitra’ said, “We go to all wards to find patients who are entitled to this… this week, we identified three-five patients and this is the first surgery.” As per a senior doctor at the hospital, “Singh’s surgery ended at 5 pm on Monday and he’s stable.”

From Moradabad, Vimlesh carried two steel plates, a pair of salwar-kameez, ID cards and Rs 10,000 she had borrowed. “I got my husband treated at a private hospital before bringing him to Delhi and borrowed money from relatives. If I had known about the scheme earlier, I wouldn’t have this loan on me,” she said.

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