Review meeting on Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya (AB-PMJAY) implementation with stakeholders was held at DC’s office conference hall, Dimapur on November 24, chaired by deputy CMO, Dr. Antoly Suu.
A press release by DPMU Dimapur stated that, DC Rajesh Soundararajan gave a brief introduction of the scheme and its importance in helping the poor in availing cashless and free treatment upto 5 lakhs per year, per family.
District co-ordination, R. Nokchalemba gave a presentation on Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya (AB-PMJAY) stating that PMJAY envisions to help mitigate catastrophic expenditure on medical treatment which pushes nearly 6 crores Indians into poverty each year. During the meeting, discussion was held between the empanelled hospitals, both private and public along with the Oriental Insurance Company and Raksha TPA.
To improve the BIS (beneficiary identification system), the members agreed to resume the identification process which was paused due to COVID-19 activities, and also to check and report any fake and bogus beneficiaries. Poor internet connectivity and lack of awareness of the scheme especially in the remote areas were some of the major issues hampering the smooth implementation of the drive. It had been noted that the process of Transaction Management System (TMS) in the web portal was another tech issue which delayed the process of identification of beneficiaries. Payment of pending claims to the hospitals was another issue that was discussed. Rajesh Soundarajan, while concluding the meeting, encouraged and urged the stakeholders to come up with solutions for improvement of both the BIS and TMS to ensure smooth implementation of the project with the expectation that there will be visible improvement by the next meeting.
AB-PMJAY is the world’s largest health insurance scheme fully financed by the government. In Nagaland, there are 81 empanelled hospitals, of which 64 are public and 17 are private hospitals.