Narendra Modi government’s flagship health insurance scheme, Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna, has helped save at least ₹1 lakh crore in treatment costs in the five years since its inception in 2018, data from the Union ministry of health and family welfare showed.

“More than ₹5.7 crore worth cashless treatments have been provided and 25.4 crore beneficiary cards have been generated under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna…,” a document from the health ministry read.

Also read: ‘Ayushman Bhav’ campaign to be rolled out on PM Modi’s birthday tomorrow. Who will benefit?

Under AB-PMJAY, the world’s largest public health protection scheme, health coverage of ₹5 lakh per beneficiary family per annum is provided to at least 600 million beneficiaries who are identified on the basis of select deprivation and occupational criteria.

The scheme is designed to provide financial risk protection against catastrophic health expenditure and is implemented in insurance or trust or mixed mode as decided by states.

According to government data, 27,343 hospitals have been empanelled under the scheme, that are now providing both cashless, and portable treatment facilities.

On the successful competition of five years of the scheme, Union health secretary Sudhansh Pant recently said, “Around 60% of the amount has been used for tertiary care hospitalization, which had been one of the aims of PM-JAY when it was launched. Also, 177 Ayushman PMJAY cards are being made per minute, with 30 hospital admissions per minute. In addition, 48% of hospitalisations are women beneficiaries, whereas 8 hospitals are being empanelled per day, on an average.”

While the scheme has been implemented in 33 states and Union territories, three states — Odisha, West Bengal, and Delhi —are yet to implement it.

Separately, after two years of commencement of the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission, at least 450 million Ayuhsman Bharat health ids have been created. “…more than 2.19 lakh health facilities have been registered, and more than 2.28 lakh health professionals are already on board under the digital mission,” the health ministry statement said.