Ayushman Yojana To Cover Families With Income Up to 3 Lakh: Haryana CM Manohar Lal

Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Saturday announced that families with annual incomes up to Rs 1,80,000-3,00,000 will also get the benefit of Ayushman Bharat.

The chief minister's office in Haryana said,''Beneficiary families will be able to avail of benefits by depositing Rs 1,500. The portal will be opened for the scheme from August 15. Till now 30 lakh families are taking benefit of the Ayushman Yojana. 8 lakh families after this announcement will be able to avail the benefits of the scheme.''

Last year, under the leadership of Manohar Lal Khattar, the government raised the income limit for inclusion in the scheme for Below Poverty Line (BPL) families from Rs 1.20 lakh to Rs 1.80 lakh.

The Ayushman Bharat scheme extends health coverage to all BPL families, offering them access to medical facilities up to Rs 5 lakh at no cost. Currently, the state has 715 hospitals that are empaneled under the scheme.

In a parallel development, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) conducted a nationwide audit, revealing significant irregularities within the Ayushman Bharat scheme in Madhya Pradesh, as reported by NDTV on August 10.

The audit report disclosed that over Rs 1.1 crore was disbursed to around 403 patients who were listed as 'deceased' in the database. Additionally, approximately 8,000 patients were purportedly shown to be hospitalized across the state during the same period, according to the CAG findings.

Within the report, 24 state hospitals, including a government hospital, were identified by the CAG with occupancy rates far exceeding their actual bed capacities.

The audit highlighted that 25 hospitals had submitted claims for 81 patients twice for various surgical procedures. "The Madhya Pradesh health authority paid the full amount for both claims as against the prescribed rate of 50% payment on the second claim," quoted the audit report, as reported by NDTV.

To date, over 23 crore beneficiaries have been verified and issued Ayushman cards, enabling them to avail free medical treatment under the scheme.