Telangana Increases Aarogyasri Health Scheme Budget to ₹487 Crore

Hyderabad: Health minister C. Damodar Rajanarsimha, on Monday, announced the addition of 163 medical procedures to the Rajiv Aarogyasri Health scheme as well as a 20 per cent hike in packages provided to hospitals to implement the scheme. The increased cost of services —the extension of coverage cost from `5 lakh to `10 lakh which was announced in December 2023 and the increased number of procedures — will together cost the exchequer `487 crore. For this, the government has decided to increase the budget by 54 per cent.

In the new 163 medical procedures, 98 will be provided via the Ayushman Bharat scheme (AB-PMJAY) and 65 by the state government's Aarogyasri.

The total number of medical procedures covered under the scheme is 1835 after this addition. The rates have been revised for 1,375 existing services out of 1672 being covered under the scheme. The rates of remaining 297 services will remain unchanged. This will cost the government `140 crore more.