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After initial enthusiasm, the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY), popularly referred to as Ayushman Bharat, seems to be fraught with delays and uncertainty in few States.
Though West Bengal has decided to opt out, it may not be easy as the Centre has paid up to ₹175 crore to the State for the scheme. Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee had declared that the State wants to withdraw from the scheme.
“West Bengal has made declarations of withdrawal from the scheme, but what about the funds of close to ₹175 crore that have been contributed by the Central government to the State,” a senior official in National Health Agency, which implements the PM-JAY, told BusinessLine .
CEO of Ayushman Bharat, Indu Bhushan, has written to West Bengal’s Additional Secretary Rajiva Sinha on January 11 reminding that the Centre had already contributed it’s share. After Bhushan’s reply to Sinha’s letter a day earlier stating that West Bengal wants to pull out, there has been no further communication from the State.
Political situation
“It is a political situation,” the official pointed out. “If they pull out, they will have to talk about repaying the Centre's share. Are they willing to do that? Or provide utilisation certificates for the amount they have already used? They have totally cut off communication after the Centre wrote to them on January 11,” the official added.
Banerjee had threatened to disassociate with the scheme over branding issues — she had expected a co-branding with the existing Swasthya Saathi scheme of the State.
In Kerala too, aggressive branding of the scheme as run by the Centre has been deemed problematic. However, Kerala is in the process of floating bids to finalise the insurance agencies.
While Meghalaya and Puducherry had signed the MoU way back in June, Kerala and Punjab had signed the MoU in end-October. Rajasthan, which had signed the MoU in October, is yet to start the roll-out.
Despite hurdles, NHA officials are hopeful to get some States on board by February or April. “Meghalaya is starting the scheme by February 1, while Puducherry and Punjab will hopefully start by February 15. Kerala, we are hoping will start by April 1. We are not sure when Rajasthan though,” said the official.
CEO of Ayushman Bharat, Indu Bhushan said, “All States will positively come around and some of these are still in the process of finalising insurance agencies.”
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