26 crore Ayushman Cards created under Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY)

On October 19th, 2023, the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri - Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) reached the milestone of 26 crore Ayushman cards across the country. The flagship policy being implemented by the National Health Authority (NHA) provides health coverage of Rs. 5 lakh (US$ 6,015.84) per household per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation to 12 crore beneficiary families.

Ayushman card creation is the most fundamental operation under Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY, and aggressive efforts are being made to ensure that every recipient under the scheme has an Ayushman card. It is one of the primary initiatives of the Ayushman Bhavah campaign, which was started with the goal of ensuring saturation of the Government of India's health schemes.

Since the campaign's inception on September 13th, 2023, more than 1.5 million Ayushman Card requests have been successfully received on NHA's IT infrastructure. 86 lakh Ayushman Cards were created in the month of October 2023 (till October 19th, 2023).

In order to cover the last mile, NHA has released the 'Ayushman App' for Ayushman Card creation. The app features a unique function called self-verification. This feature allows users to create an Ayushman Card in four simple steps without having to visit a card creation centre. Furthermore, anyone can assist recipients in obtaining an Ayushman card. As a result, the Ayushman App enables Jan Bhagidari. The app's success may be evaluated by the fact that it has been downloaded over 26 lakh times since its release on September 13th, 2023.

Ayushman Card is a symbol of equity, entitlement, and empowerment. It assures impoverished and deprived families that they will be safeguarded from diseases and the debilitating effects of catastrophic treatment costs. The government is making every effort to guarantee that all eligible people have an Ayushman Card.

With 4 crore Ayushman Cards, Uttar Pradesh leads the list of states with the most Ayushman Cards. With 3.69 crore and 2.04 crore Ayushman cards, respectively, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh are ranked second and third. Furthermore, 49% of Ayushman Card holders are female.

Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY has successfully handled 5.7 million hospital admissions costing more than Rs. 70,000 crore (US$ 8.42 billion). Saving more than Rs. 1 lakh crore (US$ 12.03 billion) expenses for poor and disadvantaged households.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.