Bill Gates hails Ayushman Bharat Scheme, congratulates Modi govt for successful execution

New Delhi, Jan 17: Months ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the Narendra Modi government has received appreciation from the billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates on the first 100 days of the Ayushman Bharat Scheme.

In his tweet, Gates wrote, "Congratulations to the Indian government on the first 100 days of @AyushmanNHA. It's great to see how many people have been reached by the program so far. @PMOIndia

Ayushman Bharat is Narendra Modi government's flagship healthcare scheme that aims to provide medical coverage to over 10 crore poor families.

The response from Bil Gates came after Union Health Minister JP Nadda informed that 6,85,000 beneficiaries have availed free health care in just first 100 days of the scheme and the number is rising rapidly.

"In just first 100 days of #AyushmanBharat, 685000 beneficiaries availed free health care & the number is rising rapidly," Nadda tweeted.

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on January 3 praised Prime Minister Modi and the Health Minister for their visionary leadership which helped around seven lakh people avail benefits of the healthcare scheme.

"In its first 100 days, #India''s ambitious #AyushmanBharat scheme has provided free care for almost 700,000 people. I applaud Prime Minister @narendramodi and Health Minister @JPNadda for their visionary leadership for #HealthForAll (sic)," Ghebreyesus tweeted.

On January 1, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley termed the government''s flagship scheme Ayushman Bharat a "game changer" in healthcare and said on an average 5,000 claims is being settled every day since its rollout on September 23, 2018.

On January 1, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley termed Ayushman Bharat a "game changer" in healthcare and said on an average 5,000 claims are being settled every day since its rollout on September 23, 2018.

The total number of hospitals covered by this scheme is 16,000. More than 50 per cent of the implementing hospitals are in the private sector.