VIJAYAWADA: Union health minister S.P. Singh Baghel on Sunday attended a meeting in Hyderabad with owners of hospitals providing services under the centre’s Ayushman Bharat and AP’s Aarogyasri scheme. Andhra Pradesh minister Vidadala Rajini also participated in the meeting.
Speaking on the occasion, Baghel praised Aarogyasri as a revolutionary step towards improving public health in AP.
Minister Rajini informed the Union minister that Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy is spending more than Rs 3,000 crore every year on Aarogyasri. She recalled that late chief minister Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy had introduced the Aarogyasri scheme, which has been expanded by Jagan Mohan Reddy.
The minister said seeing the success of the scheme, other state governments introduced similar schemes and the Central government also started Ayushman Bharat.
Rajini said in the past 1,055 procedures had been provided free of cost under Azrogyasri and Ayushman Bharat. But the Jagan Mohan Reddy government has increased the number of procedures to 3,257.
The minister underlined that 90 per cent of families in AP are getting covered under the Ayushman Bharat and Aarogyasri insurance schemes, wherein they can utilise medical services at 2,275 network hospitals across the state and outside for free.
She said that since April last year, AP is also implementing a Family Doctor Programme never been seen so far in the history of the country. Under this programme, government doctors working in an area provide medical services at the homes of poor people, she stated.
