New Delhi:During the year 2023 Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has taken special Initiative for the development of health infrastructure of the country. Special Initiatives are-
1. Ayushman Bharat: Ayushman Bharat comprises of two components:
a. Ayushman Arogya Mandir
The first component pertains to creation of 1,50,000 Health and Wellness Centres (AB-HWCs), now renamed as Ayushman Arogya Mandir, by upgrading the Sub Health Centres (SHCs) and rural and urban Primary Health Centres (PHCs), in both urban and rural areas, to bring health care closer to the community. These centres aim to provide Comprehensive Primary Health Care (CPHC), by expanding and strengthening the existing Reproductive & Child Health (RCH) and Communicable Diseases services and by including services related to Non-Communicable Diseases (common NCDs such as, Hypertension, Diabetes and three common cancers of Oral, Breast and Cervix) and incrementally adding primary healthcare services for mental health, ENT, Ophthalmology, Oral health, Geriatric and Palliative care and Trauma care as well as health promotion and wellness activities like yoga. A few States/UTs have already started rolling out these additional packages in a phased manner.Comprehensive Primary Health Care (CPHC) through Ayushman Arogya Mandir – Ayushman Bharat aims to holistically address health (covering preventive, promotive, curative, rehabilitative and palliative care), at primary, secondary and tertiary level by adopting a continuum of care approach. In the lifetime of an individual, the primary healthcare services cater to 80- 90% of the healthcare needs for improved healthcare outcomes and quality of life of the population.The Primary Health Care team ensures that community outreach and population enumeration are done for individuals in their catchment area and screened for communicable diseases and non-communicable diseases for early detection and timely referral for accurate diagnosis. The team further ensures that treatment adherence and follow-up care are provided to the patients in the community. The essential health services along with the provisioning of essential medicines and diagnostics are provided closer to the community through these centres, as a step towards building stronger and resilient primary healthcare systems which cater to the healthcare needs of the population.
b)Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY:
Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri – Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) is the largest publicly funded health assurance scheme in the world which provides health cover of Rs. 5 lakhs per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization.Currently, 55 Crore individuals corresponding to 12 Crore families are covered under the scheme. Many States/UTs implementing AB PM-JAY have further expanded the beneficiary base, at their own cost.As of 20th December 2023, approximately 28.45 Crore Ayushman Cards have been created since the inception of the scheme, out of which, approximately 9.38 crore Ayushman Cards have been created during the current year 2023 (Jan -Dec 2023).A total of 6.11 crore hospital admissions amounting to Rs. 78,188 crores have been authorized under the scheme, of which 1.7 crore hospitals admissions worth over Rs. 25,000 crores have been authorized during the year 2023 (Jan-Dec 2023).A total of 26,901 hospitals including 11,813 private hospitals have been empanelled under AB PM-JAY to provide healthcare services to scheme beneficiaries.AB PM-JAY has ensured gender equity in access to healthcare services.Women account for approximately 49% of the total Ayushman cards created and approximately 48% of total authorized hospital admissions.Ayushman Bhava initiative was launched by MoHFW for ensuring the saturation of various healthcare schemes at the village level, ultimately reaching the last mile beneficiaries. It was launched by Hon’ble President Smt. Droupadi Murmu on 13th September 2023.This initiative encompasses a series of interventions, including ‘Aapke Dwar Ayushman 3.0’, ‘Ayushman Sabhas’, ‘Ayushman Melas’, and the ultimate goal of elevating villages to the status of ‘Ayushman Gram’.NHA launched ‘Aapke Dwar Ayushman’ (ADA 3.0) campaign on 17th September 2023 as part of Ayushman Bhava campaign.An Android based ‘Ayushman App’ has been launched by National Health Authority wherein self-verification feature for beneficiaries has been enabled. The app has been developed using latest technology and provided different modes of authentication i.e. face-auth, OTP, IRIS, and fingerprint for Ayushman Card creation.This ensures that any mobile device can be used for Ayushman card creation. As a result, as of 20th December 2023, approximately 3.85 crore verification for Ayushman Card creation have been done during Ayushman Bhava campaign.Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra (VBSY) has been launched by Hon’ble Prime Minister on 15th November 2023.The purpose of the Yatra is to raise awareness about the government’s development policies and schemes among the people, provide benefits of the scheme to eligible population and foster an atmosphere of trust and collaboration.Ayushman Card creation and delivery have been selected for the on-spot services to be offered during the Yatra. As of 20th December 2023, a total of 96.03 lakh Ayushman Cards have been created during the campaign.
1.1 Achievement and Service Delivery at Ayushman Arogya Mandir:
As reported by the States/UTs on the Ayushman Arogya Mandir Portal, 1,63,402 Ayushman Arogya Mandir have been operationalized till 15th December, 2023.As per the data update done by the States/UTs in Ayushman Arogya Mandir Portal, till date, 55.66 crore screenings have been done for hypertension and 48.44 crore screenings done for diabetes. Similarly, these functional Ayushman Arogya Mandir have done 32.80 crore screenings for oral cancer, 14.90 crore screenings for cervical cancer in women and more than 10.04 screenings for breast cancer in women.Further, as on 15th December, 2023, a total of 2.80 crore Yoga/wellness Sessions have been conducted in operational Ayushman Arogya Mandir.With the objective to provide quality health services to a patient residing in rural areas, Ayushman Arogya Mandir have facility of tele- consultation, achieving a total of more than 17 crore teleconsultations so far.
Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra
lndia is a country that is constantly progressing and growing with 1.4 billion population both in rural and urban areas. Since 2014, the Government of lndia has been committed to a model of development that ensures no one is left behind, “Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayaas”. To celebrate last 9 years’ achievements, in various fields across various schemes Government of lndia is conducting a nationwide awareness campaign named as “Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra”. The major objectives of Yatra include reaching the unreached especially the vulnerable population, dissemination of information about the schemes through Mobile vans travelling across the country, Enrolment of potential beneficiaries under various schemes and learning from citizens through interaction with beneficiaries of government schemes by personal stories/experience sharing.
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), has identified Schemes/programs to be showcased during the course of the Yatra such as Ayushman Bharat- Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana as the Flagship Scheme of MoHFW and national TB Elimination Programme for the campaign with additional focus on Sickle Cell Anaemia Elimination Mission in Tribal Area. Till 30th November,2023 information pertaining to 12,774 Gram Panchayats have been received with the total footfall of more than 18,24,582 people. 18,05,069 Ayushman Cards have been created and 3,20,872 Ayushman cards have been physically distributed. 5,91,491 people have been screened for Tuberculosis, out of which more than 47,189 were referred to higher Public Health Facilities. 88,041 people have been screened for Sickle Cell Disease, out of which 3,995 were found to be positive and referred to higher Public Health Facilities. Around 6,99,308 people were screened for Hypertension and 6,52,101 people screened for Diabetes. More than 70,281 people were suspected to be positive for Hypertension and more than 52,149 were suspected to be positive for Diabetes and more than 1,13,706 people were referred to higher Public Health Facilities.
National COVID-19 Vaccination Programme
On 16th January 2021, India launched the National COVID-19 Vaccination Programme. COVID vaccination in the country commenced with vaccination to all Health Care Workers followed by Front line Workers, population aged ≥60 years and has subsequently expanded to cover the population aged 12 years and above. The Vaccination Programme is being guided by immaculate planning based on a regular review of scientific and global test practices by National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 (NEGVAC). Since the start of the COVID Vaccination drive, it has focused on taking decisions guided by science. Prioritizing our health workers, frontline workers and other vulnerable populations in a phased manner has been an excellent way to scale up the vaccination program. Vaccines are provided free of cost at all Government vaccination centres.
