Along with the rest of India, Nagaland on Wednesday launched the state-level ‘Ayushman Bhava’ campaign at Dr Imkongliba Ao Hall, Raj Bhavan, Kohima. President Droupadi Murmu virtually launched the Ayushman Bhav campaign as well as the Ayushman Bhava portal from the Raj Bhavan in Gandhinagar on Wednesday. In Nagaland, the campaign was formally launched by Nagaland governor La Ganesan in the presence of chief minister Neiphiu Rio, host of legislators, officials and dignitaries.
Speaking on the occasion, the governor said Ayushman Bhava was a revolutionary initiative that aimed at providing healthcare accessible to every citizen of the country. Mentioning that healthcare was a fundamental right of every individual, Ganesan said as a welfare state, it was the duty of the government to ensure that no citizen was deprived of this basic right due to financial constraints.
“Time and again, we have been emphasizing on the importance of health services for the growth and progress of our beautiful state. Ayushman Bhava is a step towards achieving this goal, and I sincerely hope that it will give a huge boost to the health service delivery in the state of Nagaland,” Ganesan said.
He also highlighted that under this scheme, individuals and families would have access to a comprehensive healthcare package that covers primary, secondary, and selected tertiary care services including hospitalization expenses, surgeries, diagnostic tests and critical care treatments.
At the same time the scheme seeks to alleviate the financial burden on families during medical emergencies and improving their overall well-being, he added.
Ganesan said Ayushman Bhava was not just focused on financial assistance for healthcare but a transformative initiative that aimed to strengthen the healthcare system of the country.
“We have partnered with a network of hospitals and healthcare providers to ensure the highest standards of care for our beneficiaries. The scheme also promotes the use of technology for seamless access to healthcare services and transparent monitoring of the scheme’s implementation. We need to take all health schemes of the government of India to the door steps of every citizen,” he said.
He thanked the Central and State governments, healthcare professionals and all those involved in making this scheme a reality.
On the occasion, the governor also gave away awards to various voluntary blood donors to (Nikshay Mitra)
Addressing the gathering, chief minister Neiphiu Rio expressed happiness at the Ministry of Health & Welfare for launching the Ayushman Bhava campaign with the key objective of creating more awareness about various healthcare schemes and saturate critical healthcare services in both the rural and urban areas.
Rio said he was confident that the program would bring Nagaland closer to the objective of achieving Healthy villages based on the principle of “leaving no one behind”.
He also pointed out that it was an important component of ‘Sustainable Development Goals 2030’ and that there was no doubt that a healthy population would be more productive and help the government to save substantial funds.
Rio said the move to saturate PM-JAY scheme and create awareness through Health Melas and setting up of Village Level and Ward Level Sabhas would surely have positive impact through a wider level of participation of the people.
He also highlighted about the Chief Minister’s Health Insurance Scheme (CMHIS), which was now being implemented in convergence with PM-JAY, to bring the State’s population under health insurance coverage.
He urged all the village councils, Ward panchayats and health committees to extend their cooperation, and to spread the message of the importance of cleanliness and hygienic habits to reduce the spread of Dengue.
The chief minister also appealed to all citizens to come forward and donate blood to save lives and at the same time create awareness about the myths and misunderstandings of donating blood.
He thanked the Governor for having the Ayushman Bhava campaign programme launched from the historic Hall of the Raj Bhawan.
In his speech, Health & Family Welfare minister P Paiwang Konyak informed that Ayushman Bhava campaign under Health ministry was an umbrella initiative for enhanced awareness about various health care schemes, and aims to saturate critical health care services in rural and urban areas.
While highlighting the three major components of the program, Paiwang said Ayushman Apke Dwar 3.0 was to ensure distribution and complete saturation of Ayushman cards to all remaining eligible beneficiaries under PM-JAY Scheme starting from September 17, 2023, so that no eligible beneficiary was left out.
He disclosed that till date the State has ensured generation and distribution of 6,12,415, PM-JAY Health Cards covering 2,71,593 Households.
During the current policy period, a total of 13,782 claims were submitted by various hospitals amounting to Rs. 32.63 crore. Out of this, a total of Rs. 24.29 crore have been paid till date.
Through the intervention of this scheme out-of-pocket expenditure on hospitalization for 13,782 beneficiaries amounting to Rs. 24.29 crore have been prevented, Paiwang informed.
Weekly Health mela: Starting September 17, Paiwang informed that the weekly Health Melas (Ayushman Mela) would be held at Ayushman Bharat– Health and Wellness Centres (AB-HWCs) level, focusing mainly on optimizing utilization of health care services and awareness generation.
Weekly Health melas at the level of CHCs would also be organized to ensure specialist services, other health services, etc.
As for Ayushman Sabha – A village level Sabha/Meetings (Gram Sabha) for rural areas and ward Sabha for urban areas, to be held on October 2 to enhance awareness about various health care schemes and services including Ayushman cards, ABHA ID creation, Ante Natal Check-up (ANC), Immunization, TB patient identification, screening population for Hypertension & Diabetes, etc.
In addition to the above components of the fortnight services “Seva Pakhwada”, the following activities will also be organized including Swachhta Abhiyaan- Cleanliness drives at all public health facilities at primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare levels with the support of village councils, ward panchayats, health committees of various health facilities in the State.
Blood donation camps– Voluntary blood donation camps to increase awareness about the need for regular non remunerated voluntary blood donations and opportunity for social mobilization.
Pledge for organ donation– During this fortnight awareness campaigns will be held on the importance of organ donation and also motivate people to pledge to donate organs after death.
The minister appealed to the people of Nagaland to actively take part in the Ayushman Bhavah campaign and avail the various health schemes to ensure a Healthy and prosperous society.
A pledge for organ donation was also read out by the participants at the programme, which was conducted by Thejangunuo Theunuo and Kikasangla.