The Delhi government’s umbrella health scheme was “10 times bigger and comprehensive” than the Centre’s scheme Ayushman Bharat programme, wrote Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan on Friday.
The Centre-sponsored scheme aims to provide coverage of ₹5 lakh per family, annually, supposedly benefitting more than 10.74 crore poor families in relation to secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation through a network of empanelled healthcare providers.
Mr. Kejriwal said the average citizen would be at a loss if the government’s health scheme is replaced with Ayushman Bharat here.
His comments came in the wake of Dr. Vardhan writing to the Chief Ministers of Delhi, Odisha, Telangana and West Bengal urging them to join the Centre’s flagship health insurance scheme.
“I am happy to tell you that Ayushman Bharat has already been implemented in Delhi a long time ago. The government’s health scheme is 10 times bigger and comprehensive than Ayushman Bharat,” Mr. Kejriwal said.
In his two-page letter in Hindi, Mr. Kejriwal said in spite of the implementation of Ayushman Bharat in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, lakhs of patients from these States come here daily for treatment while the opposite is not true and, in effect, indicated that Delhi’s health scheme was functioning well.
“Those whose income is more than ₹10,000 does not come under Ayushman Bharat, which means those earning less than minimum wages [notified by the government] is out of this scheme,” Mr. Kejriwal said.
Comparison drawn
He also sought to draw a comparison between his government’s scheme and Ayushman Bharat. Under the Ayushman Bharat there were less than 10% beneficiaries in Delhi while under the AAP government’s scheme, every citizen constituting the Capital’s population of two crore could be a beneficiary, he said.
The Chief Minister also said that while under Ayushman Bharat beneficiaries could get treatment of up to ₹5 lakh but under the AAP dispensation’s scheme, there was no such limit and hence, the government bears all expenses, even if these amounted up to ₹30 lakh.
“The objective of both the Centre and the Delhi government is the same — the provision of inexpensive and quality treatment to the citizens of the country, no matter under which scheme...There is a good scheme, which is currently functional in Delhi...If our model suffers from any deficiencies, please let us know so we can improve it...,” Mr. Kejriwal added.
