Sharing the burden of healthcare expenditure of poor families during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centre, under the Ayushman Bharat Scheme, has authorised at least 1.99 crore hospital treatments worth ₹ 24,683 crore across the country till now.

According to the data of the National Health Authority (NHA), as of date, approximately 16.20 crore eligible beneficiaries have been verified under the scheme and provided with Ayushman cards.

“There are 918 Health Benefits Packages (HBP) with fixed rates covering 1,669 procedures along with COVID treatment and diagnostic tests. So far, a network of approximately 23,000 public and private hospitals have been empanelled with AB PM-JAY across the country,” said NHA.

Recently, Union Minister Anurag Thakur, in a tweet, said that more than 13 crore families could benefit from the scheme.

As part of the steps taken to take care of Children affected by Covid19, Children up to 18 years will be provided free health insurance of ₹ 5 lakh under Ayushman Bharat and its premium will be paid by PM care (sic),” he tweeted.

The key features of the scheme include healthcare coverage up to ₹ 5,00,000 per entitled per year for the Ayushman cards holders. The top specialities and procedures include general medicine, general surgery, infectious diseases, obstetrics and gynaecology, medical oncology and orthopaedics