Ayushman cards will be co-branded with state logos and names of state-specific health schemes, in addition to the Centre’s flagship health scheme, according to the Health Ministry on Wednesday.
Except for Delhi, West Bengal, and Odisha, all other states and union territories have agreed to co-brand the cards, which will be renamed ‘Ayushman Cards,’ according to the statement.
The National Health Authority (NHA) decided to rename the beneficiary cards issued under the scheme “Ayushman cards” in order to bring “greater integrity and uniformity in the beneficiary cards.”
According to the ministry, a standardised co-branded card design has been developed that “allots equal space” to both Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) and state-specific logos.
Along with ABPM-JAY, it will include the name of the state scheme. The card will be bilingual, with English and the local language, according to the announcement.
The ministry explained that co-branding was planned with the “purpose of maintaining uniformity across the PM-JAY ecosystem while allowing for state-specific customisations.” According to the statement, the NHA is constantly engaging with states to issue co-branded cards, and the majority of states and union territories have adopted co-branding guidelines.
According to the health ministry, the authority will provide full financial support for the issuance of co-branded cards to beneficiaries under both the Central and State schemes.
Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY provides annual health coverage of up to Rs 5 lakh per eligible beneficiary family for secondary and tertiary care hospitalizations, which equates to 1,949 treatment procedures across 27 specialties.
The 10.74 crore AB PM-JAY beneficiary families were chosen from the 2011 Socio-economic Caste Census (SECC).
As of August 17, approximately 18.81 crore people had been verified under the scheme, with 14.12 crore receiving Ayushman cards.
Prasanta Patnaik