The Centre's flagship scheme Ayushman Bharat will be implemented in Delhi from the upcoming financial year, Delhi's finance minister Manish Sisodia announced in his budget speech on the floor of the legislative assembly on Monday.
The significant announcement was made as Sisodia, also the deputy CM presented a Rs 65,000-crore budget for the financial year 2020-21. The move marks a climbdown by the Delhi government, which until last year, refused to implement the scheme rolled by the Prime Minister himself.
The Delhi government has argued that its own healthcare scheme, under the umbrella of Delhi Arogya Kosh (DAK) is better than the central scheme as it provides coverage to more families and has no cap on the insurance amount that can be drawn.
However, the Delhi government was until last year struggling to empanel private hospitals as part of DAK, in contrast to Ayushman Bharat’s list of empanelled hospitals, which has been growing at a much faster rate.
On the other hand, the Centre has argued that the “portable” nature of PMJAY, in terms of the beneficiaries being allowed to avail cashless benefits from any public or private empanelled hospital across the country is another of its salient features.
Also read: 17 per cent of Delhi’s poorest families could benefit from Ayushman Bharat scheme
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