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Modi’s Ayushman Bharat Scheme Will Take Public Health To A New High in India

Ayushman Bharat Scheme is all set to be launched soon. India’s Minister of Health and Family Welfare, JP Nadda stated that India’s expenditure on public health has increased under the Narendra Modi government. The minister stated that India’s spending on public health has increased to 1.4% of the GDP in 2017-18 against 1.2% in 2013-2014. The minister made these claims while answering questions during the Question Hour in the upper house of the Parliament.

The minister was responding to the concerns that emerged in the upper house with regards to India’s spending on public health. Under Narendra Modi, the expenditure on public health has been progressive as per the minister and it would continue to scale further. JP Nadda said that the expenditure on public health will be further pushed when the ‘Ayushman Bharat’ scheme of Modi government comes in.

The Indian Medical Association has been taken onboard by the ministry of health and family welfare to work on the operational details of the Ayushman Bharat Scheme. The scheme will provide a financial cover upto INR 5 lakh to about to more than 10 crore families accounting for a population of 50 crores. This financial assistance provided by the central and the state government for secondary and tertiary hospitalisation.

The minister further stated that the government is planning to begin a comprehensive screening programme for those above 30 years of age. The screening will include several evaluations including diabetes and cancer. This screening plan is envisaged to facilitate early detection of cancer so that costs of treatment are low.

Quoting the report of the Economic Survey of 2017-2018, the minister stated that the combined expenditure on public health from the union and state governments has increased to 2.25 lakh crores. He stated that the expenditure ifor2015-15 stood at 1.49 lakh crores.

The government further envisages that the health expenditure will be increased to 2.5 per cent of the GDP by 2025 under the National Health Policy.

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