The state government hopes to launch the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana in Bengal within two to three months, with eligibility for the central scheme likely to be linked to voter lists, senior officials said.
The voter list is among several databases that will be checked before the final list of beneficiaries is prepared, officials said.
The state is also trying to reconcile Ayushman Bharat with Swasthya Sathi, the health insurance scheme of the Mamata Banerjee government.
“Separate teams are working in Delhi and Swasthya Bhavan, in Salt Lake, to ensure a smooth and quick launch of Ayushman Bharat in Bengal and its integration with the Swasthya Sathi scheme,” a state government official said. “We expect Ayushman Bharat to be launched in two to three months.”
The official said a meeting with private hospitals would soon be held to discuss technical issues such as empanelment under Ayushman Bharat.
“In the interim, the Swasthya Sathi scheme will continue,” he said.
Beneficiary checks
The government is scanning several databases to verify the eligibility of beneficiaries, including voter lists.
“The food department has a good database, which we are using to prepare the list of beneficiaries,” the official said. “Names of deceased persons have to be removed from the list.”
The government will also use voter lists to identify beneficiaries for Ayushman Bharat.
Asked whether voters whose names were deleted during the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls would be excluded, the official said the matter was yet to be decided.
“There will be background checks on deleted voters before a decision is taken on whether they can be included in the beneficiary list. We hope to complete the process quickly,” the official said.
On February 28, the Election Commission published a “preliminary final” post-SIR list. More than 5 lakh names were deleted and 60 lakh names were kept under adjudication. Of those, 27 lakh were later deleted after adjudication. Eighteen SIR tribunals still have to decide more than 34 lakh appeals — around 27 lakh against exclusions and 7 lakh against fresh inclusions.
Individual cards
Unlike Swasthya Sathi, which is family-based, Ayushman Bharat is an individual-based health insurance scheme.
“Beneficiaries will be issued individual plastic cards under Ayushman Bharat,” an official said.
Individuals will also receive cards under the Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA).
ABHA is a personal health viewer application under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission that enables citizens to maintain their health records in one place. It creates a single repository of health-related information.
ABHA provides every beneficiary with a 14-digit unique number used to identify and authenticate individuals and link their health records across healthcare providers. The ABHA number, along with an ABHA address, allows users to receive medical reports and prescriptions digitally and store them in an ABHA health locker.
“This will ensure that patients visiting different government hospitals do not have to undergo the same tests repeatedly,” the official said.