NEW DELHI: The Delhi government inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Centre on Saturday to implement the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) in the city. With this, Delhi has become the 35th state/UT to implement the Centre’s health insurance scheme. West Bengal is now the only state which has not implemented the scheme.The MoU was signed between the Delhi government and the National Health Authority in the presence of Health Minister J P Nadda and Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, among others.“All senior citizens aged 70 years and above will be covered under Ayushman Vay Vandana Yojana, which provides Rs 5 lakh free health cover irrespective of their socio-economic status. The scheme will cover all their pre-existing illnesses. It is estimated that more than 6 lakh senior citizens in Delhi belonging to 4.5 lakh families will be benefited,” Nadda said, adding that the state will run the PMJAY in trust model.Gupta said that the Delhi government would cover 2,35,000 families in the first phase, with card distribution starting from April 10. “Citizens in Delhi will now be able to reap benefits from ABPMJAY, which provides free health cover of Rs 5 lakh to each beneficiary family per year. In addition, the Delhi government would be giving an additional top-up of Rs 5 lakh,” she said.The Ayushman Bharat scheme provides free and cashless treatment for 1,961 medical procedures across 27 specialities, covering the costs of medicines, diagnostic services, hospitalisation, ICU care and, surgeries and more.The Delhi government has set Rs 2,144 crore fund for PMJAY in its budget. The BJP, which came to power in Delhi in February, approved the implementation of the scheme at its first cabinet meeting.
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