Chandigarh, May 21 : Kamala Devi (50), wife of a hawker in Sonepat, tested Corona positive and was admitted to a private hospital where she was unable to meet the medical expenses.
Following a doctor’s advice, she got herself registered to Ayushman Bharat following which all her medical expenses were taken care of and she was cured in 15 days.
In the horrid Covid times, the Ayushman Bharat Haryana Health Protection Mission has proved to be a boon for thousands of such families who have been provided free of cost medical treatment.
The Haryana government has made a concerted effort to enroll as many families as possible.
Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has specifically directed the deputy commissioners and the health officers that special care be taken during the Covid times of people below poverty line who have been finding it difficult to make both ends meet in these trying times.
The treatment cost of all BPL COVID patients hospitalised in private hospitals, who are not registered with the Ayushman Bharat, would be met by the state government.
Testing and Treatment of COVID-19 pandemic is also included in the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana from April 4, 2020. Since then, the Haryana government has spent an amount of Rs 5 crore on the treatment of COVID-19 patients covered under this scheme.
The state took a novel initiative by constituting ‘Ayushman Bharat Haryana Health Protection Authority’ which has so far spent an amount of Rs 4 crore on the COVID-19 testing of 10791 persons. Furthermore, an amount of more than one core has been spent on the treatment of 583 patients.
In Haryana 15.50 lakh families are registered under the mission who are entitled to free medical treatment worth Rs five lakh annually.
In all, 593 hospitals in the state are empanelled of which 176 are the government hospitals and 417 are the private ones. So far, these hospitals have claimed an amount of Rs 315 crore for the treatment of 2.59 lakh patients. Out of these, a claim of Rs 263 crore has been paid by the government for the treatment of 2.33 lakh patients. 
Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana was launched in the country on August 15, 2018 and under this, Haryana is the first state in the country which has paid the medical claim raised under Ayushman Bharat.(UNI)