New Delhi, Aug 27 (IANS) Around 85 per cent rural families and 60 per cent urban families have been identified by the government that will benefit from the Ayushman Bharat -- National Health Protection Scheme -- said Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare J.P. Nadda on Monday.
Addressing a media briefing, Nadda inaugurated the logo for the scheme, renamed as Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna (PMJAY) which will be launched nationwide on September 25, the birth anniversary of Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay.
The minister said the project had already been started on pilot basis in 16 states and Union Territories to test and help the programme evolve into a foolproof, transparent and user-friendly IT system.
"The government has given total flexibility to the states to choose their own modes of implementation among insurance, trust or mixed mode and the Centre is ready to provide the required support. No enrolment is required for beneficiaries and there is no payment for obtaining services at empanelled hospitals," he said.
According to the health ministry, 29 states and UTs have signed the MoU and have started working on implementation of the PMJAY. Punjab, Puduchery, Karnataka, Delhi, Kerala, Tamil Nadu are likely to sign for the scheme, whereas Telangana and Odisha have not confirmed it yet.
As per the ministry, the funding for the scheme will be shared - 60:40 for all states and UTs with their own legislature, 90:10 in north eastern states, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal and Uttarakhand and 100 per cent Central funding for UTs without a legislature.
Under the scheme, Rs 5 lakh per family every year will be borne by the centre which approximately cover 10.74 crore poor and vulnerable families entitled under Socio- Economic Caste Census (SECC) data with no cap on family size or age.
