On the lines of Centre’s ‘Ayushmaan Bharat‘ scheme, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat on Tuesday launched the ‘Atal Ayushman Uttarakhand Yojana’. The scheme was Launched on the 94th birth anniversary of the former Prime Minister Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The launch of the scheme makes Uttarakhand the first Hill State in the country to offer universal health coverage.
Under the scheme, each household in the state will be able to avail medical treatment of up to Rs 5 lakh annually. The scheme will benefit 23 lakh households and will cover 1,350 critical diseases, said TS Rawat.
Addressing a mammoth gathering after launching the scheme, chief minister TS Rawat said that it is highly appropriate that the scheme is being named after the former PM Vajpayee and is being launched on his birthday as he is adored as the creator of Uttarakhand.
“Our government did not want anyone in the state to be unable to afford medical treatment, so all the households have been included under the scheme, Rawat said.
While distributing Scheme related Golden Cards to beneficiaries, Rawat signed memoranda of understanding (MOU) with private hospitals and announced that soon free of cost OPD facilities will be available for children and elderly people in the state. A total of 99 government and 66 private Hospitals have been selected under the scheme.
He also announced the state dedicated air ambulance service will be operated from January 26.
Haridwar MP Ramesh Pokhariyal ‘Nishank’ congratulated CM Rawat and said that the day would be written in golden words in the history of the state.
The state BJP president Ajay Bhatt also congratulated the Uttarakhand government for the launch of the scheme. He also narrated many memoirs of the former PM Vajpayee on the occasion.
The CM and other guests launched a mobile-based application and website of the AAYU scheme on the occasion.
The Launch programme of “AAYU” was attended among others by Tehri MP, Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah, cabinet minister Prakash Pant, minister of state for higher education Dhan Singh Rawat, and many other lawmakers in Uttarakhand Government.