Bhubaneswar: Minister of State for Health Appeals for PMJAY Approval

Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar has appealed to the Odisha government to approve the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna (PMJAY) in the state.

"Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna, which provides Rs 5 lakhs insurance cover to poor patients, hasn't been approved by the state government yet. I appeal to the state government of Odisha to approve it," Pravin Pawar said on Sunday.

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Pawar was speaking after the inauguration of a multi-utility centre at AIIMS Bhubaneswar.

"Under PM's leadership and Union Health Minister's direction, the government is working to increase facilities in AIIMS across India. AIIMS Bhubaneswar doing good work in medical education, healthcare, and research," Pawar said.

So far, 30 of 33 states have agreed to the co-branding plan except for Delhi, Odisha, and West Bengal which have opted to remain out of it.

PMJAY, which was launched on September 23 in 2018, gives an annual health cover of Rs 5 lakh to eligible families.

Accusing the central government of taking all the credit for it, West Bengal pulled out of the scheme in 2019.

Mamata Banerjee had said she would be willing to rejoin if the Centre funded the scheme fully.

The health ministry recently said that the National Health Authority -- the administrative authority for the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY), the tertiary care arm of Ayushman Bharat (AB) has decided to bring greater integrity and uniformity into the beneficiary cards issued under the scheme by re-christening them under a common name, 'Ayushman cards'.

The team had earlier reported that the Health and Family welfare department of the Odisha government had created 2,000 posts of doctors for the peripheral health institutions of the state to provide adequate health service to the people of the state.

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