Ayushman Bharat-PMJAY  in Telangana: The National Health Authority (NHA) has signed an MoU with Telangana Government to implement Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) in the state with immediate effect. NHA said in a statement today that the Ayushman Bharat scheme has been integrated with the existing state scheme ‘Aarogyasri’ and this converged scheme is being called Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY Aarogyasri.

Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY scheme has now been implemented in 33 States/UTs. According to NHA, approximately 26 lakhs beneficiary families (around 1.3 crore individuals) as per SECC, 2011 data will be eligible to avail services under the scheme in Telangana.

Under PMJAY, beneficiaries are entitled to avail free healthcare coverage of up to Rs 5 lakhs per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization. Health services can be availed in any of the 22, 000 empanelled public and private hospitals across the country through the scheme’s portability feature. The NHA along with State Health Agency will undertake necessary action to ensure that all eligible beneficiaries are provided free healthcare services under the converged scheme.

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Commenting to on the launch, Dr. R. S. Sharma, CEO, National Health Authority, said, “We are happy to onboard State of Telangana for the rollout of AB PM-JAY in the State. The beneficiaries from the State are now eligible to avail free healthcare services pan India through our network of more than 22,000 hospitals. This is not only going to benefit the eligible families in the state but will also enable the delivery of healthcare services to PM-JAY beneficiaries from other States/UTs living in Telangana. The providers’ base has also increased. Our call center has started getting calls from the eligible population in the State. We are committed to taking the benefit of the scheme to all eligible beneficiaries.”

NHA said that while the eligible population of the state would benefit from free healthcare services across the country, the launch of a converged scheme will lead to effective utilisation of resources for providing quality healthcare services. NHA will provide several auxiliary supports SHA including related to fraud and abuse control.

A beneficiary can call the toll-free number 14555 to know about their eligibility under the scheme and information on how to avail services.

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