AB-HWCs as Ayushman Arogya Mandir

Context

In November,2023 The Union Government has decided to rename the existing Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centres (AB-HWCs) as ‘Ayushman Arogya Mandir’ with the tag-line ‘Arogyam Parmam Dhanam’.

Ayushman Bharat

1. It was launched as recommended by the National Health Policy 2017, to achieve the vision of Universal Health Coverage (UHC).

2. It is designed to meet Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and its underlying commitment, which is to “leave no one behind.”

3. It is an attempt to move from a sectoral and segmented approach of health service delivery to a comprehensive need-based health care service.

4. Ayushman Bharat adopts a continuum of care approach, comprising of two interrelated components–

1. Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs)

2. Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY)

Health and Wellness Centers (HWCs)

1. In 2018, the Government announced the creation of 1,50,000 Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs) by transforming the existing Sub Centres and Primary Health Centres.

2. These centres are to deliver Comprehensive Primary Health Care (CPHC) bringing healthcare closer to the homes of people.

3. They cover both, maternal and child health services and non-communicable diseases, including free essential drugs and diagnostic services.

Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY)

1. Largest health assurance scheme in the world, launched in 2018.

2. Aims at providing a health cover of Rs. 5 lakhs per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization to poor and vulnerable families that form the bottom 40% of the Indian population.

3. The households included are based on the deprivation and occupational criteria of Socio-Economic Caste Census 2011 (SECC 2011) for rural and urban areas respectively.

4. PM-JAY was earlier known as the National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS).

5. It subsumed the then existing Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) which had been launched in 2008.

6. The coverage mentioned under PM-JAY also includes families that were covered in RSBY but are not present in the SECC 2011 database.

7. PM-JAY is fully funded by the Government and cost of implementation is hared between the Central and State Governments.

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