After resisting for two years, the Telangana Government has agreed to join the Ayushman Bharat Scheme launched by the Union Government two years ago.

“Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has taken a decision to dovetail Telangana’s Aarogyasri Scheme with the Union Government’s Ayushman Bharat Scheme,” Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar said.

The Chief Secretary has conveyed the State’s decision in a video conference held by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday.

Also read: NHA to relook health packages under flagship Ayushman Bharat programme

The Prime Minister held the meeting with the Chief Secretaries of all the States to review the progress of various Central schemes such as Ayushman Bharat (Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana) and Jal Jeevan Mission.

This move has surprised many as the Telangana Chief Minister always argued that the State’s universal health insurance programme Arogya Sri was way better than the Central scheme and that it would continue with its own scheme rather than join the national scheme.

Also read: Two years on, Ayushman Bharat has ground to cover on universal health care

The State, however, has changed its view and decided to ‘dovetail’ its health scheme with the Centre’s scheme.

Ayushman Bharat, which is aimed at offering Universal Health Coverage (UHC), has two components of health centres and Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY), which offers a health cover of ₹5 lakh per family. This includes tertiary care hospitalisation to over 10.74 crore poor and vulnerable families.

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