Economic Survey 2020-21: How the Modi government’s ambitious scheme ‘Ayushman Bharat’ helped the common people across the country during the COVID lockdown and epidemic, is mentioned in the Economic Survey 2021. Presenting the Economic Survey in Parliament, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the states which adopted this health plan have shown strong positive results in those states. The survey has shown this by comparing the health parameters of Assam, Bihar, Sikkim and Bengal. Talk, the West Bengal government has not implemented the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) scheme. PMJAY is an important part of the Ayushman Bharat scheme of the government. It was started in 2018 with the objective of providing health services to the disadvantaged and weaker sections of the society.
PMJAY is being used for the general use of better health services at lower prices. It has also been told in the survey that facilities like dialysis continued smoothly without any hindrance even during the epidemic and lockdown under the plan. General medicines, mainly specialist clinical services which were reduced during the lockdown, have seen improvement in ‘V’ shape. In December 2020, it has reached the pre-COVID epidemic. The Economic Review indicates that the National Dialysis Mission can be merged with PMJAY.
Economic Survey 2020-21 Highlights: Lockdown saved livelihoods, increased investment in health, learn the highlights of economic survey
Increase in health insurance coverage
National Family Health Survey NFHS 4 to NFHS 5 in states adopting PMJAY recorded a growth of 54 per cent in the number of family covered members in life insurance. In states which have not adopted PMJAY, it has registered a decline of 10 percent. Such increase in health insurance coverage reflects the success of PMJAY.
How backward is West Bengal?
The data of West Bengal has been compared to its neighbouring states Bihar, Assam and Sikkim. According to the Economic Review, Bihar, Assam and Sikkim recorded 89 percent growth in households adopting health insurance from 2015-16 to 2019-20. At the same time, there has been a decrease of 12 percent in West Bengal. In addition, from 2015-16 to 2019-20, West Bengal has recorded a 20 per cent reduction in newborn mortality, while its three neighboring states have recorded a reduction of up to 28 per cent. West Bengal has not seen any significant drop in the difference between the two children, while the three neighboring states have recorded a 37 percent decline.
In the Economic Review, the states implementing PMJAY have been compared to the states which do not adopt it. States that have implemented PMJAY have shown significantly better health findings than those who did not adopt it.
Important points of PMJAY in survey
- In states adopting PMJAY, the number of family members covered in life insurance from NFHS 4 to NFHS 5 has registered a 54 percent increase. In states which have not adopted PMJAY, it has registered a decline of 10 percent.
- The fall in infant mortality (IMR) was recorded at 20 percent and 12 percent respectively. In this way PMJAY states registered an increase of 8 percent.
- Between the two surveys, there has been an increase in the number of people adopting family planning, mainly in all states. In states where PMJAY has been adopted, there has been a significant increase in it.
- States with unplanned family planning have reported a decrease of up to 31 per cent in states adopting PMJAY, while in states not adopting PMJAY, the decrease has been only 10 per cent.
- Birth care indicators have improved. For example, states that do not adopt PMJAY have more cases of institutional births, institutional births in public facilities and births in homes. Whereas the cases of those giving Caesarean births are higher in states adopting PMJAY as compared to those who do not adopt it. The review states that birth care is not very effective in PMJAY.
