Radiological tests, surgery health schemes saw max spending in last two years: Delhi govt

Launching the expanded Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) to cover everyone aged 70 years and above Tuesday, PM Modi had said he fulfilled his “guarantee” on the occasion of Dhanvantri Jayanti. With Delhi and West Bengal still remaining outside the health coverage scheme, the PM apologised to older people in these two states for being unable to help them.

Reacting to this, Aam Aadmi Party chief and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, in a post on X, argued that Delhi’s model offers comprehensive free healthcare for all — irrespective of treatment costs — unlike the Ayushman Bharat scheme, which, he said, has restrictive criteria and is inadequately implemented. He also said the scheme was “riddled with scams as per CAG reports”.

Constituted in 2011, DAK has five components/ schemes — Financial Assistance to EWS Patients; Free High-End Radiological Diagnostic Test Scheme, Cashless Specified Surgeries Scheme, RTA (Road Traffic Accident) Scheme (Farishtey Scheme), and Cashless Dialysis Scheme.

Under the Farishtey Scheme, cashless treatment is provided to medico-legal victims of road accidents and victims of acid attacks and thermal burn injuries when the incident takes place within the jurisdiction of Delhi.

Patients with an annual family income of up to Rs 3 lakh are eligible for the financial assistance in government hospitals scheme. It is only for residents of Delhi who have been living in the city for three years before the date of submission of application.

DAK is a registered society that provides financial assistance to the extent of Rs 5 lakh to eligible patients in need of treatment for any illness or disease in a hospital run by the Delhi or central government, local bodies, or an autonomous hospital under the state government. Following treatment, registered nursing homes/private hospitals seek reimbursement of costs incurred during the treatment of such victims through DAK.

Delhi BJP MPs, meanwhile, have filed a writ petition in the High Court against the non-adoption of the Ayushman Bharat scheme in Delhi, state president Virendra Sachdeva said Wednesday.

L-G V K Saxena on the other hand, took to X, alleging the scheme has not been implemented as Kejriwal wanted AAP’s name to be associated with it: “In June 2018, the Health Department of your government had recommended implementing this scheme in public interest in view of its benefits and the then Health Minister had given permission to implement Ayushman Bharat Scheme in Delhi. After that, in August 2018, your government talked about naming the Ayushman Bharat scheme as ‘Chief Minister Aam Aadmi Health Insurance Scheme Ayushman Bharat’…”

“On one occasion after another, the file regarding implementation of the scheme kept going to your ministers and each time it was sent back with unnecessary and unfounded queries,” he added.