How will the AAP govt’s free healthcare scheme for the elderly work?

Earlier in the year, the AAP came under fire from Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he spoke about Delhi and West Bengal being the two states that were yet to implement the scheme. He said that he felt apologetic that he could not help the people of these two states.

While a concrete policy is yet to be drafted, officials said, ‘Sanjeevani Yojana’ is being seen like an extension of the Delhi government’s surgery referral scheme. Under this scheme, if a particular surgery cannot be performed at a government hospital, or if the waiting time for surgery is more than a month, the patient is referred to a private hospital and the cost is borne by the government. Over 12,000 people have availed of the scheme between 2022-24, as per government data.

“We are already paying for surgeries in empanelled private hospitals as per the scheme’s eligibility. This can be seen like an extension of that. Earlier, people would have to get referred to a private hospital by a government hospital doctor. Now that process will be eliminated,” said Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj.

At present, 81 hospitals are empanelled with the government for the implementation of the surgery scheme. These do not include hospitals run by Max Healthcare, Fortis Healthcare and Apollo Hospitals. “The number of empanelled hospitals can be increased if need be,” Bharadwaj added.

Asked about the financial implication of the new scheme, officials said a detailed document was yet to be drafted but the Health Department had prepared a preliminary report.

“We have seen that under the Ayushman Bharat scheme, the expenditure per patient is not too high. We expect that the case will be the same in Delhi,” the health minister added.

A reply by Union Health Minister J P Nadda in the Lok Sabha on December 6 contained expenses incurred under the Ayushman Bharat scheme in districts in Gujarat and Tripura.

In Ahmedabad district, in 2023-24, data shows, an average expenditure of Rs 28,773 was incurred per patient under the scheme. The number of beneficiaries that availed the benefit in the duration was over 1.49 lakh.

Senior AAP leader, Jasmine Shah, meanwhile, posted on X that Delhi’s expenditure on health schemes was higher than that allocated by the Centre for Ayushman Bharat. “The AAP government in Delhi spends Rs 9,000 crore annually on its health schemes whereas the annual budget of Ayushman Bharat scheme for the entire country is Rs 7,000 crore…,” he wrote.

When asked if the Delhi government still plans to find a way for the Ayushman Bharat scheme and its now proposed schemes to run parallelly, Bharadwaj said the government was not averse to it. “We are not against adopting the scheme. If it is a good fit for Delhi, we will consider it for sure,” he told The Indian Express.

Delhi Chief Minister Atishi in November said she had directed health department officials to see if there was a way for the Delhi government to adopt the Ayushman Bharat Scheme while not compromising on its free healthcare model.