‘1 Crore Patients A Year To Be Covered Under Ayushman Bharat’
Indu Bhushan, CEO of Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna and the National Health Agency, discusses with BW Businessworld’s Suman K. Jha the initial experience of the Ayushman Bharat rollout as well as its long-term implications.
Excerpts:
In independent India, there are few schemes that match the ambition and expanse of Ayushman Bharat. What has been the initial experience like?
In the initial days we have seen two types of responses. To all the queries, our response has been very good actually. Right off the block, we have been implementing the scheme quite well. In UP, Bihar and MP, it has been a slow start. When the scheme stabilises we should be looking at admitting 30,000 patients a day. So about a crore a year.
As of now, people from the deprived backgrounds are availing services of the scheme. An auto rickshaw driver coming for a stent, a rickshaw puller coming for knee replacement are just two of the many examples.
What is the long-term implication of Ayushman Bharat? How do you see it changing the healthcare landscape in the country?
The biggest implication will be changing the face of healthcare for the bottom 40 per cent of the society. In this segment usage of healthcare services is very low compared to the top 20 per cent. It’s not because they are less sick or have less demand, it’s because they can’t afford. Through Ayushman Bharat, we are providing affordability. Now, the private sector healthcare will be available to these 500 million people.
Secondly, healthcare services right now are concentrated in the top 20 cities of the country because that is where the paying capacity is. But we will now see a change in the distribution of services.
Thirdly, you will see the quality of services both in private and public sectors improve through this scheme. These are three things you should see as the scheme gets mainstream.
What has been the experience so far with involving private hospitals in the ecosystem?
So far, I shouldn’t be undermining the concerns raised by the private sector. They have not been happy with package rates. However, we feel that these package rates are justified according whatever data we have, so we are proceeding with the rates. But we are also agreeing with the private sector and other associations and will continue to work on getting more data and evidence on the rates at some point.
Today, we spend about 1.2 per cent of GDP on healthcare and the plan is that by 2025 it should be 2.5 per cent. Do you think this scheme is just a step forward towards that larger objective?
Of course. If we assume our economy will grow at 6-7 per cent, then we need to increase our health budget by at least 16-18 per cent every year. This is a large increase and for that we should have the resources as well as the absorbing capacity.
Which are the states that are well placed to optimise this scheme?
All the southern states will do well, and in the other parts I would say Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Haryana will do well. Eastern states like West Bengal and Assam will also do well. But we will have some struggle in the green field states. But I am hoping that these states too will catch up since they have been implementing such schemes for the last eight to 10 years and hence have the appropriate infrastructure. These states (UP, Bihar and MP) are large states and account for a third of our target group and that’s also where the challenge lies.
