New Delhi [India], Sept 22 (ANI): With the first year of its operation, nearly 47 lakh people have got benefits from Ayushman Bharat- Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY).

Last year on September 23, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched PM-JAY from Ranchi, Jharkhand.

In this short period of 12 months, 46.4 lakh hospital treatments, worth Rs 7,500 crores have been carried out, and 60 per cent of the amount spent is on tertiary care.

As on date, the scheme has been implemented in 32 States and Union Territories.

In one year, 10.3 crore e-cards have been issued to entitled beneficiaries under PM-JAY. This is more than the total combined population of France and Canada. The distribution of e-cards is continuing to take place at a very fast pace. 3 e-cards are being distributed every second across the length and breadth of India, and 91 per cent e-cards linked with Aadhar, which aids verification of the entitled beneficiaries.

Dr Indu Bhushan, CEO, National Health Authority (NHA) said: "Our focus is to ensure that more and more vulnerable Indians are being made aware of their entitlements so that they can avail of the hospitalisation benefits during their illness. PM-JAY aims to ensure improved healthcare delivery, through a combination of government hospitals and strategic purchasing of services from private hospitals, in health care deficit areas."More than 18,236 hospitals have been empanelled across India to ensure optimal accessibility to the eligible families. Out of the total hospitals empanelled, 53 per cent are private, especially multi-speciality. There are nine hospital admissions every minute across the hospitals in India, said the official.

Highlighting the participation by the private sector, Dr Bhushan said, "The uptake of PM-JAY by private sector providers has been very encouraging. We have many private hospitals empanelled under PM-JAY. We are working on getting the top corporate hospitals on board so that beneficiaries have maximum choices".

A unique feature of PM-JAY is its portability, which has helped the eligible poor and migrant workers to seek treatment outside their states. So far, there have been 42631 portability cases.

Ayushman Bharat - Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) is the flagship scheme of Government of India that provides a cover of up to Rs 5 lakhs per family per year, for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization to over 10.74 crore vulnerable entitled families (approximately 50 crore beneficiaries). (ANI)