14 lakh Ayushman Vay Vandana cards created for senior citizens

The government yesterday said that around 14 lakh Ayushman Vay Vandana cards have been created, for senior citizens aged 70 years and above under Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) till the 25th of November. In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Prataprao Jadhav informed that the government has expanded AB-PMJAY to provide free treatment benefits of up to 5 lakh per year on a family basis to all senior citizens aged 70 years and above, irrespective of their socio-economic



status. 

It added that the estimated number of such beneficiary families across the country is 4.5 crore which corresponds to the 6 crore individuals under the scheme. He also informed that a total of 29,870 hospitals are empanelled out of which 13,173 are private hospitals. The scheme provides cashless healthcare services related to 1961 procedures across 27 medical specialties including General Medicine, General Surgery, Orthopedics, Cardiology and Oncology among others.