AB will create a far reaching impact | Sunil Khurana

Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB- PMJAY), the new health insurance scheme, which will be soon rolled out will significantly improve the healthcare scenario in India and it is expected to change the entire ecosystem in the healthcare space.

The world’s largest healthcare scheme will provide health coverage to more than 10 crore households and 50 crore people will be included in this scheme for INR 5 lakh per year insurance that will be provided for secondary and tertiary healthcare. The entitlement-based insurance scheme, which has many attractions like IT-enabled, free and cashless in-patient healthcare, will be provided to the people who enrol. We haven’t had such scheme so far that provides this kind of volumes. Being a part of medical devices industry, I am foreseeing a big impact, however, it will not happen in the short-term but gradually and in the next 15 to 20 years, we can expect a double digit growth from our industry.

With 1.25 per cent of the GDP spent on healthcare, public health is one segment which was majorly ignored for decades together by various governments and with the announcement of AB PMJAY, the focus of India’s public health delivery system is at a centre-stage. The scheme is a extremely bold decision by the government and active participation of the private players is necessary.

In the coming years, this current government will be remembered for implementing this ambitious scheme.

Next article: AB will create a new health ecosystem | Rajiv Nath