Bhubaneswar: Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Harsh Vardhan on Thursday spoke to Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and urged him to join Government of India’s flagship health protection scheme, Ayushman Bharat– Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY).
Apart from Odisha, Vardhan wrote to the Chief Ministers of Delhi, Telangana, and West Bengal urging them to join the health protection scheme.
Vardhan has spoken with the chief ministers of Delhi, Odisha and West Bengal- Arvind Kejriwal, Naveen Patnaik, Mamata Banerjee, respectively-and is trying to contact Telangana’s K. Chandrashekar Rao, an official release stated.
“It is important that the benefits of the visionary scheme like Ayushman Bharat should reach all deprived and vulnerable people in the country. I will make all efforts to convince the remaining states and Union territories (UTs) to bring the benefits of the scheme to their people and ensure that no eligible person is deprived of these benefits,” said Vardhan.
Urging them to join the scheme, the Union Minister argued that the states would gain resources, national portability, state-of-the-art technological platforms, implementation systems and world-class analytics systems at no additional cost.
They will also benefit from a well-proven fraud monitoring and control system and exchange of key learning and best practices of other states towards equitable healthcare. The health minister said that financial resources will be made available to the States with adequate flexibility in the spirit of cooperative federalism.
“Implementing AB-PMJAY would prove highly beneficial for not just the State but equally importantly to its people and all stakeholders. The ultimate beneficiary of this collaboration will be poor and vulnerable people,” said Vardhan.
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Ms Kalinga