The Ayushman Bharat introduced by the BJP government is not as effective as is being claimed by the leaders. Under the scheme, an average of Rs. 219 is spent on a family in the country. In 2023-24, the centre allocated Rs. 7,200 crores which means a family gets Rs. 261 under the scheme. Whereas the Telangana state government has been allocating Rs. 650 crores annually which comes to Rs. 1,000 per family of beneficiaries.
The Arogyasri health scheme is covering 61 lakh families in Telangana state. There are another 29 lakh families that are covered by Ayushman Bharat but the state government is giving a 40 per cent matching grant to the beneficiaries. This was revealed by the union health ministry in parliament. Compared to Ayushman Bharat, the coverage of diseases are wide-ranging under the Arogyasri scheme of Telangana state.
By Gollapudi Srinivasa Rao