The fortnight-long national campaign will enhance awareness around the preventive, promotive and curative aspects of healthcare, nutrition, yoga and healthy lifestyle through Ayushman Bharat
Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare, recently launched Ayushman Bharat Pakhwara, a fortnight of enhancing awareness about the Yojana, the salient features of its twin pillars and the benefits that can be availed of.
Dr Vardhan said, “This year, as we complete one year launch of AB-PMJAY, we are celebrating Ayushman Bharat Pakhwara (September 15-30), a fortnight-long national campaign to enhance awareness around the preventive, promotive and curative aspects of healthcare, nutrition, yoga and healthy lifestyle through Ayushman Bharat and other related initiatives such as Poshan Abhiyaan and Swachhta Abhiyaan.”
Dr Vardhan informed that tele-consultation services will be introduced shortly which will have qualified medical officers and specialists. Work has been undertaken with eSanjeevani application of C-DAC, Mohali in Gujarat. Post security audit, the service will be rolled out in all functional AB-HWCs in a phased manner.
Dr Vardhan mentioned that the Governing Board of the National Health Authority decided to overhaul the existing health benefits packages and rationalise the cost of the packages to remove any aberrations. This has ensured private sector participation by empanelling more hospitals to improve access to hospitalisation-related care. The IT system has been upgraded to make it more user-friendly, interoperable, secure and state-of-the-art.
Dr Vardhan further mentioned that due to the policy of zero tolerance towards corruption, 97 errant hospitals have been de-empanelled and penalties worth more than Rs1.5 crore have been levied. The scheme is also progressing to achieve its vision of increasing employment in the health sector. He stated that an indigenous healthcare setup is coming up across India and the infrastructure will develop further, especially in tier II and tier III towns. In the last one year, the scheme has started to create thousands of jobs across the healthcare sector in India and many more will be created in the coming years.
Dr Harsh Vardhan also stated that to mark the first anniversary of PMJAY, the National Health Authority will organise a two-day national workshop, Arogya Manthan, on September 30 and October 1, 2019. In Arogya Manthan, all important stakeholders of PM-JAY will meet and discuss through day-long sessions and working groups. Dissussions will be held on what challenges were faced till now and to forge new understanding and pathways towards improving the implementation of PM-JAY.