New Delhi: The government is planning to rope in domain experts from within and outside the country to ensure a smooth rollout and monitoring of ‘Ayushman Bharat’, its ambitious health insurance scheme for the poor.
Niti Aayog, the government’s premier think tank, will come out with guidelines for setting up the project monitoring unit (PMU) for Ayushman Bharat, also known as National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS), an official told ET on condition of anonymity as the draft RFP (request for proposal) is still being worked out. The health ministry will then invite applications for the setting up of PMU, the official said.
According to the official, the government does not have the wherewithal to recruit the right talent for a programme of such scale. “Hence, the need for a PMU, which could hire both national and international experts to oversee the programme’s rollout,” the official said.
Ayushman Bharat, popularly known as ‘Modicare’, is billed as the world’s largest government-funded healthcare scheme. Under it, the government aims to cover over 100 million poor and vulnerable families (about 500 million beneficiaries) with up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation.
The government will also set up 150,000 health and wellness centres across the country by 2022 to provide primary health care.
The PMU is likely to be responsible for programme management, IEC and media, information technology and monitoring and evaluation of the programme.
The government is of the view that a dedicated unit with persons having right skill sets will ensure success of the programme.
General elections are due in the country next year, and the BJP-led NDA government is hoping to woo voters with welfare initiatives such as Ayushman Bharat.
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