Kolkata: Around 3.4 crore individuals across the state are already enrolled as beneficiaries of the Ayushman Bharat card ahead of its Sunday launch. Another lot — around 80 lakh — have also enrolled themselves under the Mukhya Mantri Swasthya Bima Yojana (MMSBY), which will also be launched at the same event.According to chief minister Suvendu Adhikari, the state govt is organising ‘Ayushman Divas’ on Aug 16. “Card distribution for Ayushman Bharat will start from that day. We will also start the MMSBY from that day,” the CM said, adding that the state govt will organise Rakhi Bandhan Utsav at 4,000 different places across the state this time.State health minister Sharadwat Mukherjee on Friday said that unlike other health schemes, Ayushman Bharat will cover three days of pre-hospitalisation and 15 days of post-hospitalisation.“Ayushman Bharat will cover out-of-pocket expenses that patients need to bear before and after hospitalisation on things like medication and dressing. And unlike other health schemes, this covers pre-existing diseases,” Mukherjee said on Friday while announcing the nitty-gritty of the scheme that the minister said was being denied to people of Bengal for ages.Health officials said that field verification of around 5 crore individuals has already been done, out of which 3.4 crore have been migrated from Swasthay Sathi to AB-PMJAY scheme while 80 lakh beneficiaries who did not qualify for Ayushman have been enrolled for MMSBY.“Along with the launch of these two schemes, we are not discontinuing Swasthya Sathi till migration to either of the two is complete,” said Mukherjee, indicating the migration could take about two to three months.Mukherjee said that so far, 1,939 private hospitals and 627 govt hospitals across the state are empanelled under the health scheme. In fact, some private hospitals that have chains across the country and have not enrolled for Swasthya Sathi or for Ayushman Bharat in other states will be part of it in Bengal.“Being a doctor myself, I know how people after a certain age need medical care all the more. That is why those above 70 are eligible for this scheme without any kind of restrictions,” said Mukherjee.Each individual in a family eligible for the health scheme will get a card. Three months post the launch of this scheme, health officials would hold a review and meet with private hospitals to iron out glitches.“We are working hard as a team to implement this scheme,” Mukherjee said while addressing media with his team, including the MoS health, health secretary, the DME and the DHS.
