“The opening of 25,000 Jan Aushadhi Kendras in the country is also progressing at a fast pace,” President Murmu said. (Express File Photo)
The Ayushman Bharat Yojana, also known as the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY), is a health insurance scheme launched by the Government of India in 2018. Its primary aim is to provide comprehensive health coverage of up to ₹5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation to approximately 55 crore beneficiaries from over 12 crore poor and vulnerable families across the country. The scheme’s coverage is also being extended to the grassroots-level healthcare workers—the ASHA and Anganwadi workers—in the interim budget.
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President Droupadi Murmu announced on Thursday that all citizens aged over 70 will now receive free treatment under the Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme. “My government is providing free health services to 55 crore beneficiaries under the Ayushman Bharat Yojana. Further, the government is going to take yet another decision in this area. Now all the elderly above 70 years of age will also be covered and get the benefit of free treatment under the Ayushman Bharat Yojana,” President Murmu said in her address to the Parliament.
In addition to the healthcare benefits, President Murmu also highlighted that after completing the goal of setting up 10,000 Jan Aushadhi Kendras, a network of generic drug stores that offer medicine sometimes costing 50 per cent to 90 per cent less than the branded versions, across the country, the government has increased the target of opening 25,000 stores available in the market, thereby aiming to provide affordable medicines to the public and further strengthen the healthcare ecosystem.
“Medicines at Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Jan Aushadhi Kendras are available at 50% to 90% lesser rate in comparison to the branded medicines,” the statement said. (FE)
Notably, the Ayushman Bharat Yojana has already made significant strides, with over 31 crore Ayushman cards created and 6.34 crore hospital admissions worth Rs. 80,645 crore authorised under the scheme as of April 5, as reported by PIB. The scheme is currently implemented widely across India, except for a few.
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Refer to the table below to know if the PMJAY scheme is applicable in your state/UT or not:
| State/UT | PMJAY Availability |
| Andaman and Nicobar Islands | Yes |
| Andhra Pradesh | Yes |
| Arunachal Pradesh | Yes |
| Assam | Yes |
| Bihar | Yes |
| Chandigarh | Yes |
| Chhattisgarh | Yes |
| Dadra and Nagar Haveli | Yes |
| Delhi | No |
| Daman and Diu | Yes |
| Goa | Yes |
| Gujarat | Yes |
| Haryana | Yes |
| Himachal Pradesh | Yes |
| Jammu and Kashmir | Yes |
| Jharkhand | Yes |
| Karnataka | Yes |
| Kerala | Yes |
| Ladakh | Yes |
| Lakshadweep | Yes |
| Madhya Pradesh | Yes |
| Maharashtra | Yes |
| Manipur | Yes |
| Meghalaya | Yes |
| Mizoram | Yes |
| Nagaland | Yes |
| Odisha | No |
| Puducherry | Yes |
| Punjab | Yes |
| Rajasthan | Yes |
| Sikkim | Yes |
| Tamil Nadu | Yes |
| Telangana | No |
| Tripura | Yes |
| Uttar Pradesh | Yes |
| Uttarakhand | Yes |
| West Bengal | No |
Note: As per the PIB (Press Information Bureau) press release of July 23, 2021, three states, including Odisha, Telangana and West Bengal, have opted out of the scheme along with the NCT of Delhi. West Bengal implemented the scheme initially but discontinued it after January 10, 2019.
