More than 6,000 patients have been seeking care daily under the cashless health insurance scheme Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, popularly known as Ayushman Bharat, following its launch three months back. In less than 90 days, 6.4 lakh persons have benefited, said Health Minister JP Nadda.

Private hospital admissions

The amount authorised for admissions till date is ₹850 crore, and 65 per cent of the total admissions are in private hospitals, according to data shared by the National Health Agency (NHA). Of the authorisations worth ₹850 crore, claims worth ₹630 crore have been submitted by 4.9 lakh patients. NHA data shared by Indu Bhushan, CEO of Ayushman Bharat, show that up to 22 per cent of the admissions are heart patients who signed up for angioplasty.

This was followed by coronary artery bypass graft (9 per cent); valve replacement and repair (6 per cent); polytrauma (4 per cent); and joint replacement (3 per cent). Cardiology, cardio-thoracic and vascular procedures accounted for ₹297 crore of the admission amount.

The dashboard, which is not available for public view, had been throwing up erroneous data, showing that the highest amounts were disbursed for dental procedures. Bhushan clarified that this has not been the case. “Some media reports printed wrong facts on dental procedures being most popular, despite us telling them that it is incorrect,” said Bhushan.

Glitches galore

Due to the non-timely availability of services, patients have been calling up the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) directly, said an official at NHA, who did not wish to be named.

“Only last week we received a call from the PMO with regard to a female patient in Maharashtra who was trying to get the benefit of the scheme in Surat under portability as the website was down. We immediately got in touch with the State officials and sorted out the matter,” the official said.

Up to 1,500 cases worth ₹4 crore have been treated in different States under the portability category.

State-wise disparity

There is State-wise disparity on how the scheme has fared till date. States such as Gujarat, Kerala and Chhattisgarh have recorded more than a lakh of admissions since the launch. Bigger States such as Uttar Pradesh have recorded one-tenth of the admissions that top States have recorded at 13,635 patients.

Other big States such as Bihar recorded 4,346 patients; Uttarakhand has served only 615 patients.